Smoke - Part 2

In my last post I talked about the "theory" behind incense, giving some historical background and biblical texts. Now I'm going to get onto the practical side of things. I will assume that you are total novices when it comes to using incense and hopefully there will be something to help most people. 

Firstly, before using incense in church at all, you have to think about the building itself. How large is it, and most importantly, where are the fire alarms? Can you isolate any of the smoke detectors? Or are they going to start screeching the minute you fire up the incense? If you do have to switch them off, make sure you have some alternative arrangements in place for fire detection and evacuation. Stay safe!

Next you will need something to burn your incense in. I know of four choices here...

1 - You may have access to a church thurible (incense burner). Alternatively you may not possess one, but would like to make one.

2 -  A simple thurible can be made using an old sweetcorn or fruit tin, punching some holes in it, and adding chain from a hardware store. You can generally do this for less than five pounds. Make sure you punch holes near the bottom of the tin for better air circulation. 

3 - You can use a bowl or tin filled with sand, which can be stood on a pedestal of some kind, preferably somewhere where it cannot be knocked over, for example in a church sanctuary area. 

4 - You may have a small domestic incense burner or Orthodox hand censer. These may be a little small for church use so I would recommend solutions 1-3. 

Thirdly you will need something to burn; charcoal and incense. 

Charcoal can be purchased from a church supplies shop. I don't recommend barbecue charcoal because the grains of incense will fall off, but some types of shisha charcoal can be used. Basically you need charcoal with dent in the top so you have somewhere to place the incense. 

Some of these charcoal discs are swift-lighting which can be helpful, but it isn't all that important to get swift lighting as long as you have access to a small cook's blowtorch. (More about that later!)

When it comes to choosing the incense you have an awful lot of choice. I used to use Prinknash incense. Basilica is a popular flavour used in many churches, which smells like hot cross buns. However it can be harder to get the mix right and prevent the smoke going acrid over the duration of the service. Other people swear by the strong floral aroma of Rosa Mystica, made by the monks of Alton Abbey.  I am particularly fond of Orthodox incense blends these days which generally use slightly larger grains and which come in many floral scents and also some more spicey scents. A few years ago I had a lovely one called "Holy night"; Nard incense is symbolic and wonderful for Holy Week, Amber and Mount Athos incenses are fabulous, and I often use Myrrh incense on Holy Saturday.

Incense in a bowl

First I will talk about using incense in a bowl. The same principles can be used for domestic incense burners. Firstly, do make sure that your bowl is filled with sand. The charcoal discs can get much hotter than you realise, especially as they can still look black whilst being hot enough to burn. Beware! To be extra-safe place your bowl upon a non-burning surface such as a tile. It is possible to make a burn mark on a table with a hot incense bowl. Sometimes a charcoal disc will look like it hasn't caught light but it is quietly burning away inside. DO NOT TOUCH the lit charcoal with bare hands. Instead use a small pair of tongs (like sugar tongs) or tweezers or a pair of teaspoons. Place two or three discs on the sand in the bowl, well spaced apart.(Remember that the more charcoal you use the more charcoal smoke there will be . Charcoal smoke is  unpleasant and unhealthy and you will want to maximize the nice scent of the incense and minimize the charcoal smell.) Light the charcoal. You will then need to wait for the charcoal to glow red. It is possible to blow on the charcoal to help it glow quicker, but beware of sparks which may fly out and burn you. It is much safer to use a small battery operated fan or even better a cooks blowtorch which can make the incense glow red very quickly indeed.

When the charcoal is red you can add the incense. Remember that only the incense which is in contact with the charcoal will actually melt and release perfume. Do not smother the charcoal by adding too much incense or it will go out. Spoon the incense carefully onto the charcoal and, if it is your tradition, ask a priest to bless it. From time to time, scrape away the "spent" incense and add new stuff. Spent incense can be acrid if left on the charcoal. 

A top tip for a quick cloud of smoke to appear is to grind some of the incense in a pestle and mortar (just like a cooks pestle and mortar). This is pretty much always necessary with Orthodox incense which has larger grains.  The smaller the grains, the more quickly it will melt and you will get a wonderful cloud of smoke, but it will also disappear quickly. 

When you are finished be very careful where you dispose of the spent charcoal. It is best dealt with outside. Do not ever place in a bin inside the building. 

Incense in a thurible (censer).

Thuribles come in a number of shapes and sizes. They are often made of brass or silver. Orthodox thuribles have twelve bells on them which represent the voices of the twelve apostles. 

here is a lovely image of a thurible and incense boat from the ceiling of a church in Rome

When dealing with thuribles please be aware that the chains can very easily become entangled, and, like a ball of string they can be tricky to untangle again! I tend to store mine by tying the chains together at 3 or 4 points along their length with large twist ties to keep them from tangling. A thurible stand is a very useful thing to hang the thurible from when in church. If you do not have one, a microphone stand can make a good temporary substitute. 

Do keep you thurible clean. The lid can often become filled with a tar like substance that can give off nasty smelling smoke when it gets hot. Don't allow it to get dirty and give it a good scrub with cleaner after use (once it has cooled down). To make the task of cleaning the inside of a thurible easier I always use a small metal pie tin inside the bowl of the censer. This can then be scrunched up and thrown away in an outside bin after use, making cleaning much easier. 

Unlike the incense bowl you do not need sand in a thurible. If you did use sand if would very quickly spill everywhere. Thuribles are meant to be swung  and used in processions or swung and aimed at an altar, a gospel book, or your congregation. Because of this do check your chains and make sure they are firmly attached before use. A pair of snipe nosed pliers can easily fix any loose connections. 

When you come to light the charcoal, you can light it using tongs from a small candle (the traditional way) or simply blast it with a cooks blowtorch. The quick way! (An added plus point is that you can use the blowtorch to make creme brulee when you're not using it for incense). Giving the thurible good strong swings can get the charcoal to glow more quickly. When the charcoal is glowing red you are ready for the incense to be added. In a liturgical situation you would normally offer the incense boat to a priest who would add three spoonfuls (sometimes making a lovely little cross with the spoon) and pray a prayer of blessing either silently by making a cross over the incense or aloud eg. "Be blessed by Him in whose honour thou shalt be burnt in the name of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen."   As with the incense in a bowl it is important to make sure the charcoals are placed so that their dent is facing upwards, and that the incense is placed on top of that bowl. Any incense not in contact with the charcoal will not melt and is simply wasted. Do not put too much charcoal in the thurible at any one time or you will simply get the smell of the charcoal smoke. More can easily be added later. Getting the balance right will result in better perfume and less acrid smoke. Another tip for keeping the smoke smelling sweet is to regularly clear away the spent incense, but do not simply scrape it to one side with a spoon, scrape it out of the thurible altogether and place in a small metal dish. That way the smoke will keep smelling lovely and sweet.  Please also be aware that after a while the thurible itself can get hot, especially the lid, as heat rises. Take care not to burn your fingers on the lid. 

If your church does not use incense liturgically there may be times when it may be appropriate to cense the space before an act of worship. This can create an atmosphere of prayer, but is also easier on those occasions when the smoke bothers people. It has been noted in some churches which have a large number of tourists, that the atmosphere is quieter and more prayerful when the building smells of incense. It also seems to discourage birds such as pigeons from entering church buildings. 

There are many wonderful videos for clergy on youtube showing you how to cense an altar or a gospel book. Here are some links to some of them. 

Censing the altar, also serving at a free standing altar

Censing an altar fixed to a wall

A tutorial for servers

Another tutorial on censing a fixed altar

There are a number of ways of doing this so do not feel that any one is "correct" although some churches do have a "house style" which it would be polite to follow.

Please note that if the altar is free-standing the priest should walk around and cense the altar in an anticlockwise direction. 

This is the same for coffins if you need to cense a coffin at a funeral. With other items, or if you wish to use a more simple technique then two swings to the middle of the item (eg. a gospel book) two to the left and two to the right can be a default for most situations. 

I do hope that this short tutorial helps and enables you and others to enjoy the use of incense in worship and reassures you that it can be used without the congregation being choked by clouds of charcoal smoke. 

Smoke - Part 1

In this Pentecostal time of year it seemed a really good time to talk about incense, which seems to me to be a bit like the Marmite (you either love it or you hate it!) of the liturgical world! Some churches and Christians love it, and want to use it whenever possible. (I admit I'm probably in that bracket - but only if the smoke is sweet!) and some hate it and would be very happy if they never encountered it again. 

Some of this is due to mis-placed ideas about incense, and some of it is because the smoke catches in their throats and makes them cough. Sadly the latter problem is easily avoided and I will tackle the practicalities of using incence in "Smoke part 2" when I will tell you the secret of getting a really good incense mix, and avoiding that acrid barbecue-smoke effect which makes everyone cough when the thurifer passes by. 

Incense in the Bible

When I was a teenager I used to attend an Evangelical church and many worshippers there were vehemently against the use of incense. The strength of their reaction was puzzling to me. Looking back I think it was just prejudice, or lack of teaching on the subject. For the first thing to remember is that incense is quite clearly biblical. There are several key passages regarding incense, in both Old and New Testaments. 

In Exodus chapter 30 God commands the Israelites to offer incense in worship and writes in instructions to the Israelites as to how it should be offered. 

“You shall make an altar on which to offer incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.  It shall be one cubit long, and one cubit wide; it shall be square, and shall be two cubits high; its horns shall be of one piece with it... Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall offer it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening he shall offer it, a regular incense-offering before the Lord throughout your generations." 

Exodus chapter 30 even has a recipe for holy incense which came with a command that it not be used to secular purposes. This tells us that other blends of incense were probably used for domestic air freshening as they are today in parts of the Middle East. 

"The Lord said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy;  and you shall beat some of it into powder, and put part of it before the covenant in the tent of meeting where I shall meet you; it shall be for you most holy.  When you make incense according to this composition, you shall not make it for yourselves; it shall be regarded by you as holy to the Lord.  Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from the people."

There are a number of other references to incense being offered in worship, daily in the temple, including Exodus 25, Leviticus 2, 2 Chronicles 29 and a rather disturbing passage in Numbers 16 describing a mutiny and a terrible fire of judgement devouring 250 men who offered incense and themselves before the Lord as alternative leaders. (This seems also to mark out the fact that the Hebrews must have used incense for their domestic purposes, because they actually possessed 250 censers).

Incense is also mentioned in the book of psalms
"Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice." (Psalm 141:2)

Throughout the bible it is symbolic of prayer and worship and we can see from a number of these passages that Incense was used regularly in temple-worship, being offered both morning and evening. 

There are fewer references to incense within the New Testament, and yet it is still there, being mentioned in the gospel of Luke. (Frankincense was one of the gifts of the magi), the letter to the Hebrews where the worship of the Earthly tabernacle is compared with the perfect offering of Christ the Great High Priest and in the book of Revelation:

"Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake." (Revelation 8:3-5) 

In this famous passage from Revelation the prayers of the saints are offered to God as incense, and God acts in response to those prayers in a dramatic and spectacular manner. 

Incense in History

It might be worth mentioning at this point, that in ancient times hardly anyone (apart from a few rich Romans, had access to running water. Nor was there an adequate draining system. Animals were used for transport (and animals tend to leave "presents" behind them), so basically the streets stank and most people stank too! As Paul Bradshaw (I believe - sorry I have lent the book to someone) once said "The importance of incense is not that it symbolises the ascending smoke of sacrifice, but it is a means of making tolerable the smells of unwashed humanity.” (Foundations in Ritual Studies p45, Bradshaw and Melloh)

Therefore those who were rich appointed a servant to walk the streets before them, fumigating the smell away with perfumed incense. 

It might be worth mentioning at this point that the Latin word for incense is thus and this is the root word for the two terms usually used in liturgical churches; a thurible for the incense burner, and a thurifer for the person who carries the censer. 

The fact that the incense normally paved the way for a VIP is the reason why the incense comes first in liturgical processions, followed by the cross, representing Jesus, the King of Kings, accompanied by candles. Sometimes an extra server accompanies the thurifer, a boat-boy or boat-girl, carrying the container for the incense. This container is often shaped like a boat, hence the term boat-boy. When a new member of the serving team is trained they often begin as boat boy before moving onto the more complex tasks of bearing candles, the cross or becoming a thurifer. 

Incense was also used in Pagan worship and a number of martyrs in Roman times were killed for refusing to offer a pinch of incense in worship before a statue of the emperor. 

We are not sure when ceremonial incense began to be used within Christian churches, but Egeria, the fourth century pilgrim mentions it in her travels to the Holy Land and its use is expected in the ancient liturgies of St James and St Mark. 

By the Middle Ages incense was used regularly in churches and monasteries in processions, at funerals, at services on saints days when the altar and people were censed (taking inspiration from the worship in the temple) and at Mass when the gospel, the altar, the people and the gifts were censed. Five grains of incense were also placed within the Paschal (Easter) candle, symbolising the five precious wounds of Jesus upon the cross. 

Of course at the Reformation everything changed and the churches were stripped of ceremonial. Many consider the use of incense to have died out at this point in time, but actually this simply isn't true. The reason, I'm sure, was that people still smelt! It was not until Victorian times that we had access to decent plumbing. There are a number of historical references to the purchase of incense in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the accounts of some churches and cathedrals including Ely, Canterbury and Barnstaple, but the incense was not used ceremonially. Instead it was burnt in a perfuming pan or brazier and generally a church was fumigated by a verger before Divine Worship began. 

The ritual use of incense returned to the church in Victorian times after the rise of the Oxford Movement. Nowadays there are a number of variations in practice. Some Anglo-Catholic churches use incense every Sunday. Many cathedrals and greater churches use it only on special occasions such as major feasts of the church. (The definition of a major feast varies from church to church, but would normally include Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity and Ascension). In addition to this many cathedrals and greater churches would also use incense on "red letter" festival saints days, such as the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. If a church has evensong on one of these saints days the old monastic tradition of censing the altar during the gospel canticle has been reintroduced (normally the Magnificat, as this is the canticle that was sung at Vespers in the monastery). Some churches such as Ripon cathedral have a small brazier in front of the altar and place incense upon this during the canticle. In other churches and cathedrals, such as York Minster, a canon will cense the altar ceremonially during the Magnificat and then give the thurible to a server who will cense the people as a sign of their holiness before God and the holiness of the saints. Even some Evangelical churches will occasionally use incense,but not ceremonially, perhaps as part of a prayer station, perhaps at Epiphany, remembering the gifts of the magi; gold, frankincense and myrrh. Nowadays there is comparative freedom on the use of incense, but there is also some resistance to its use. If you are able to use incense I do encourage you to try it though. It does seem to have the affect of demarcating a space as being holy and it creates an atmosphere of prayer and worship.  Personally I believe most of this resistance to the use of incense is due to it being used badly and the congregation being inflicted to a large amount of acrid charcoal smoke. In my next article I will tell you a little bit more about how to mix it and use it well, the types of incense currently available and ways in which you might use it in prayer and worship, either ceremonially or informally. 

Lipstick, heels and hairspray

Summer is coming. The season of ordinations and guest choirs going on tour. Therefore this seems a good time to write this little nugget of wisdom. It might seem a rather frivolous post at first sight, but bear with me as I hope to share some tips which may help you or someone else sound, look and feel more professional as they lead worship.

Heels

This post about heels is really aimed at anyone who processes up a stone aisle including ordinands,  priests, servers, lay ministers, and choirs too. It may also apply to those who wear flat shoes which have noisy heels. Years ago (in my chorister days) I was told that, if processing in church we should not wear  heels as the clippety clop noises are distracting. (Those who say this are partially right. The clippety clop noises are indeed distracting! If a whole choir is wearing heels in an echoey building the sound can be quite overpowering!). However this does not mean that those leading worship cannot wear heels or that we are reduced to wearing shoes that look ugly on special occasions.  Heels can be really useful for a number of reasons. e.g. If a cope or cassock is an inch too long it is hardly worth sending to the person who does your sewing and heels are an instant fix. Also if a lectern was designed for a six foot giant and you can't find a box to stand on your heels can at least ensure that some of your face is visible. So I bring you good news. It is possible to wear heels in such a way that you are seen but not heard!

This is how:

- Firstly do try this at home (first!). Then try it in an empty church so you don't go flying on your first outing in heels and end up in the lap of the Lord Lieutenant at the next civic service you have to lead! Also please do not sue me if this all goes horribly wrong. You wear heels in an old church at your own risk. (and nine inches is definitely too high! I generally go for one or two inches for greatest success.)

- Secondly find some lovely (black!) heels which aren't too horrendously uncomfortable (especially if you have to process a long way or stand for a long time. I would avoid using wedges as I simply can't do this in wedges (you may be cleverer than me though).

- Thirdly (and this is the trick!) practice walking with the heels, but instead of putting your weight equally on the foot throw your weight slightly forward so it is actually resting on the ball of the foot. (It is rather like walking on tiptoe, yet actually your heels do rest on the floor, only they are placed down very gently). When you first start practising you may wish to begin by walking on tiptoe but then gradually get yourself used to placing the rest of the foot down silently. After a while you will then be able to silently glide up the aisle wearing some shoes that are as wonderful as your other robes and your processions will both look and sound perfect.

- Fourthly. This is rather a post-script and may not apply to your church. If you are in a church with a particularly old and uneven stone floor do not step on the cracks in the pavement! Your heels may get stuck (and I have had that happen to a bridesmaid) but actually even if you aren't wearing heels you may trip on the join in the two paving stones and, once again, land in the lap of a VIP (or, worse still, end up in casualty). This can happen even if you are wearing flat shoes. Whilst doing weddings in Winchester I discovered that actually those story books who told you when you were very small that if you stepped on the cracks a bear would come around the corner and eat you were doing you a great service in prevention of trip hazards years and years later. It is much less likely that you will trip if you aren't treading on the cracks.

Lipstick

This brings me to lipstick. Some people may consider this to be an equally frivolous post as wearing lipstick is hardly compulsory. Some ministers (and congregation members too) have been wary of using lipstick because it does not stay put and can come off on the chalice at communion, on the purificator (wiping cloth) or on robes.  If the lipstick is ordinary lipstick this is true, and it can drive those people who do your washing nuts! Do spare a thought for your poor laundry team. It can be very hard to get rid of  the residue. However once again I bring good news! Some clever souls at a number of makeup companies have invented Super-stay lipstick that lasts many, (sometimes even 24) hours without coming off. This is wonderful stuff. I use it all the time. I used to get cracked lips but find that this type of lipstick somehow or other seals the skin of my lips so they no longer crack, and it never comes off on the chalice, robes or anything else. Highlighting the lips can also make it easier for some people to hear what you are saying when you are reading or preaching (as some people do actually use a bit of lipreading without realising it). Some of these lipsticks come in two parts with a clear topcoat but I never use this bit as the topcoat does tend to come off. I just use the base.

Hairspray

I hardly ever use hairspray normally. I am particularly wary of it when I am leading a service involving candles. If it is an Easter Vigil or Advent Procession tidy your hair well away from any naked flames and leave the hair unsprayed. (Also make sure you know where the fire blankets are).  However the place where hairspray really comes into its own is when leading worship outdoors. You can have beautifully combed and neat hair inside the church and then when you leave the building it suddenly turns into a haystack, because, of course, outside is windy  and the outside  of (usually tall) church buildings is doubly windy. If you make sure your hair is thoroughly sprayed and in place before you leave the building then your Remembrance service or Palm Sunday procession will look lovely and if you end up in the local paper at least you will be looking your best.

So there we are. Heels, lipstick and hairspray. We don't need them, but no-one should ever say that they can't be used. They are tools like anything else and can make us look and feel more confident and professional whilst leading worship.

Evensong Prayers and Intercessions

This is one of those posts that have been on my "to do" list for a very long time as I have witnessed a good deal of confusion around the best technique for writing a good set of intercessions at a service of Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Choral Evensong. 

This confusion seems to be compounded by the fact that many clergy and lay ministers use Common Worship Daily Prayer (CWDP) for their daily office. The structure of CWDP differs in a number of ways from the BCP, and one of the stark differences is that there are no intercessions for others within the most commonly used set liturgical options  (with the exception of the Lord's Prayer). Instead, after the Benedictus, there are thematic suggestions and the instruction:

These responses may be used

Lord in your mercy

Hear our prayer

(or)

Lord hear us.

Lord graciously hear us. 

This can lead to the temptation to treat BCP Evensong intercessions in a similar vein to those in CWDP, or even in a similar vein to Eucharistic intercessions, with lengthy biddings followed by the aforementioned response. However, although I hate to be too dictatorial of the prayer life of others there are two reasons why I personally this is a bad idea.

In short:

1 - "Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer" is not in the liturgy for 1662 Evensong, and a number of those who come to Choral Evensong because they want a traditional service find the response rather annoying, because it has been parachuted in from another liturgy altogether.

2 - The response "Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer" isn't in the book. (At least I have never seen a Choral Evensong service book with this response written in it). Those leading the intercessions are therefore expecting the congregation to simply know this response, and that is deeply unfair to visitors and makes spiritual seekers and tourists feel unwelcome. Particularly because Choral Evensong is the kind of service which attracts spiritual seekers and tourists, especially in town-centre churches and cathedrals. Moreover in tourist towns a number of attendees don't have English as their first language and "Amen" is international.

It is true that those leading intercessions can tell the congregation what their responses should be at the start of the prayers, and this would indeed be good practice for those insisting on using this form of intercession. However I would like to argue that there is something more fundamental going on in the structure of intercessions at Choral Evensong. Therefore let's take a few snapshots of the responses that the choir have sung. The choir is not simply entertaining us (although the music should, hopefully, be lovely). The precentor and choir are, in fact, leading us in intercessory prayer. 

O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.

And grant us thy salvation.

A prayer for our salvation, the salvation of those we know and love, and the salvation of the world. 

   

O Lord, save the King.

And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

A prayer for His Majesty the King, but, it seems to me, also a prayer for his government, the stability of our nation, and the rulers of the earth. 

Endue thy ministers with righteousness.

And make thy chosen people joyful.

A prayer for the Church, and for all who lead and teach within it, followed by a prayer for those who are in emotional turmoil; depressed, lonely, grieving or heartbroken. A lot of prayer is packed into those two short lines!

   

O Lord, save thy people.

And bless thine inheritance.

Once again a prayer of salvation but also a prayer of blessing and an opportunity to remember before God those we know and love. 

   

Give peace in our time, O Lord.

Because there is none other that fighteth for us,

but only thou, O God.

A prayer for peace on Earth and an opportunity to particularly remember those areas of conflict within the world. 

   

O God, make clean our hearts within us.

And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

A prayer for our own personal spiritual refreshment and renewal. 

Therefore, in a service of Evensong, before we ever come to the spoken intercessions, we have already held a number of situations in prayer before God. Traditionally the practice following the Choir's anthem (if there was one) was to use the state prayers; a prayer for the King's majesty, a prayer for the Royal family, a prayer for the clergy and people, finishing with the most popular prayer of St John Chrysostom and the Grace. These four prayers are all written in the style of a collect , and the ending of these prayers: "Through the merits of Jesus Christ our saviour"/"Through Jesus Christ Our Lord" clearly leads to a congregational Amen. 

I would therefore argue that good practice in Evensong intercessions should be to follow a similar pattern. Having already prayed for almost every kind of situation within the sung responses this final section of an Evensong is our chance to personalise this international and historic liturgy to our time and place. The best way to do this is through very short biddings; for example"We pray for peace in N and all affected by the N (news item)" followed by a collect style prayer, leading clearly to an Amen. These do not have to be historic, but it is beneficial if they are poetic, matching the beauty and poetry of the sung prayers and the anthem. The subjects for these biddings may be themes which have occurred within the bible readings, current news topics, or areas of concern within the church.  It is also good practice to have a prayer of remembrance for those who grieve, checking the RIP list. People who have recently lost a loved one often come to an Evensong service shortly afterwards or on the anniversary of their death to hear that person's name read and remembered before God. 

There are some really lovely collect-style prayers available at our disposal: prayers of the saints, twentieth century prayers by William Temple, Dean Eric Milner-White and many many more. It is also good practice on a saints day, or anniversary of the death of a writer to use a prayer written by them. Although it was traditional to have four of these collect style prayers, adding a bidding increases the length and I have discovered over time that only having two or three seems to work best, and in any case good practice would dictate that this time lasts no longer than three minutes in total. Otherwise it is taxing the patience of a congregation some members of whom may never have attended church before. An alternative approach (particularly for gifted writers and poets) is to write collects which encompass the biddings or current situations. Here are a couple of mine as examples. 

O God who gave the universe its melody
and placed rhythm into our heartbeat:
Bless Winchester Cathedral Choir
and all who work to give a glimpse of the harmonies
of heaven to the people of our earth. 
May our ears be ever open to the prompting of your Spirit.
May our eyes be ever open to the beauty of your world.
May our voices dress your church 
with the songs of light and life
That we might partner with the angels 
in their never-ending hymn of praise
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Almighty God, 

Who moulded Adam from the clay of the earth 

And who shapes our lives and fires them in the crucible of your Spirit:

Create and make us into the vessels of your love; 

Open us when we are closed and afraid, 

Raise us when we are low and fallen, 

Smooth us when we stray from the ways of your perfection, 

and help us to be the people you have called us to be, 

in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Whichever tactic is used the endings need to lead to an Amen. "Through Jesus Christ our Lord" is the most obvious way to get there, but using this for every bidding can get a little repetitive. Other options are as follows:

...through Jesus Christ our Saviour

...through Jesus Christ your Son

...who lives and reigns for ever and ever, world without end

...through our Saviour Jesus Christ

...through Jesus Christ our healer

...through Christ our Saviour and our Lord

....through Christ who hears our prayers and sees our tears

(and there are many more variations upon this kind of theme)

Therefore the congregation are invited to say 3 Amen's and the Grace, the text of which is generally printed in the book:

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [or Ghost], be with us all evermore. Amen.

Structuring the intercessions in this fashion, personalising them to the readings and to current news items, but keeping them succinct will finish the service beautifully. It will not grate against the poetry or the music or embarrass newcomers, asking too much of those who do not yet believe. Moreover it will, perhaps, lead people into a place of prayer for the first time when they experience the wonder and awe of intensely beautiful music and prayer within an exceptionally lovely building. I hope so, and this is why I am writing this piece, not because I am a liturgical pedant, but because I long for others to connect with the Eternal God. 

Psalms

One of the projects that is on my to-do list (after house-moving and getting the Transcendence infrastructure sorted out) is to do some work encouraging and promoting the use of psalms in worship. There are so many ways to use them and so many musical styles in which to explore their treasures. It seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed the lack of sung scripture in a lot of modern worship songs, and I'm pleased to see that Keith Getty has been thinking on similar lines, as he's just released an album of psalm settings.  Still there is a whole lot more work to do, and a whole lot more musical styles to explore. An easy way of doing psalms is to re-write the words so that they fit with  hymn tunes (Metrical psalms). A new set of these by Adam Carlill, called Psalms for the Common Era has just been published and was flagged up by Praxis in their December newsletter. Adam has translated the texts directly from the Hebrew unlike some metrical versions (including my own humble attempts) which merely copy the English. My copy of this particular psalm book hasn't arrived yet but I look forward to exploring them.  My favourite modern treatment of the psalms currently is Isaac Everett's Emergent Psalter, but then I am also very fond of the ancient plainchant settings. The chant blog contains resources to help you if you are interested in learning them. They are very singable and yet link us to some incredibly ancient music. Yet they can also be used in more modern ways. Some people would probably hate the fact that I quite like chanting them over electronica but it works! 

Changes

Most of you will probably have heard by now that I have changed jobs and left Winchester Cathedral. I am now working for the Transcendence trust, which was formed in 2012 to support the Transcendence services in York minster, but which is now focused upon liturgical teaching, resourcing and promoting Sacramental Fresh Expressions in particular and helping churches engage with worship in new ways. With this in mind I have been doing a bit of re-organisation of my blogs. This blog will now be focused on liturgical teaching and theory (whether in the traditional world or in Fresh Expressions territory). It seems to me that the boundaries are blurring these days, but it also seems to me that more and more churches need help and support in refreshing their worship, hence my choice to do more writing, teaching and consultancy to support those in need of help. I have moved most of my creative worship ideas onto Canon Sue's Liturgy Blog. If you are looking for something that was previously here, it will probably be over there!

Video Stock Footage Libraries.

A few years ago I signed up for a free trial at videoblocks. I was pretty impressed. So much so that I subscribed to the site. Even on the free trial it is possible to download 20 pieces of video a day and there are no limits for full members. There are some really nice videos which are clearly intended for use in worship services. The site is worth checking out and you can view the clips without buying them.

The other footage library that I tried a few years ago was showfootage. I received a voucher for some free videos from them when I bought the latest version of Arkaos. Per clip these are quite expensive at $11.99 for a single sale, but if you find enough videos that you like it is possible to purchase 75 clips for $1.49 each ($111.75,which at the time of writing translates as £70 which isn't too bad for a whole library load of stuff). Again you can view the clips before you decide whether its worthwhile or not.

A Multi-Sensory Poem

A while back I did a day at St Bede's centre, which does quiet days and all sorts of cool Christian spirituality stuff. Anyway a while after the session Ann Pugh wrote a poem about it. No-one has ever written a poem about anything I did before, so I asked her if I could put it up here as I think its rather wonderful.

So here it is...

quiet waiting, slowly breathing,
Listening, hearing, mind unbound.
Musical notes and melodies weaving
Necklaced beads of coloured sound.

Hands enfolding, holding, feeling.
Throwing, giving and receiving,
Writing and drawing signs in lines,
Or washing and healing of painful wounds.

Rhythmic instrumental playing,
Joy in stories, learning songs,.
Colourful images reminding
To share and care in hopeful prayer
Along with others where all belong.

Touch of stones with different textures,
Sculpted rough, eroded smooth,
Rolled by rivers, seas and oceans
Could build paths or walls secure.

Candles lit on water floating,
Shimmer, rupple, relfect the light/
Creating movement, then a stillness
For wonder, thankfulness and delight.

Ann Pugh - inspired by a Sue Wallace workshop.

Creating a Bouquet along the aisle

I heard about this idea the other day when I popped into St Michael's church office and I thought that it sounded rather lovely. At a wedding, instead of the bride having a bouquet that has been made earlier, single flowers are given to people in the congregation, and as she walks up the aisle the bride picks them up until she has a whole bouquet. I like the level of interaction in the idea and the fact that (potentially) everyone has something to give to the ceremony. (Although in practice, unless the congregation were a small one, I imagine that you would have to somehow confine yourself to the people nearest the aisle, unless the congregation could spread out like a guard of honour). 

Often what makes the difference between a creative worship idea that works and one which doesn't is thinking through the logistical difficulties in advance and solving the practical problems in order to help the worship run smoothly. Having a person to check ideas with will often flag up these difficulties that you haven't spotted so that you can solve them before everything goes pear-shaped. 

Inspiration and Psalm 30

At the last service planning meeting I was delegated to go find a nice dance track to chant psalm 30 on top of. We've been playing around with chanting psalms over funky tracks lately. It seems to work really well, as long as you use a really simple chant (we're not talking Anglican chant here!) and a really nice backing track. I was very excited to realise that not only did psalm 30 work with the Paradise remix of Ian Van Dahl's Inspiration but also that the words to inspiration itself fit the theme of the service, which is Jairus' daughter (its available on itunes and you can listen to it on Spotify but over there it seems to be mislabelled as the Peter Luts remix...which it aint!)

So here is our version of psalm 30. Tune-wise, you come in when the bass line starts, and start singing on an A, then when you get to the capital words sing them on the next note up (a B), then for the 2nd line of the psalm sing that on the E (5 notes below) go up to an F sharp for the bold word on the 2nd line and then back to the E for the end of that line. Its quite hard to explain but actually just do it, if it sounds nice then who cares if its not the way I do it! The rhythm is the rhythm of the words itself.Sing it as you would say it!

Anyway here we go (as you can see we stopped for a while in the middle when the tune came in and then came back with more of the psalm later).

Psalm 30

I will lift You UP O GOD
Because you have raised ME up

And have not let ALL OF MY ENEMIES
Triumph oVER me.

You brought me BACK FROM THE DEAD
Back to life from the deep DARK pit

Sing to God You SERVANTS OF HIS
Give thanks to His hoLY name.

For his anger is GONE IN AN INSTANT
His favour lasts A lifetime

Weeping may enDURE FOR THE NIGHT
But joy comes in THE morning.

***When your dreams are lost and blown away
And you need someone to make your day

If there comes a time when hope is gone
and you need some help to carry on.
I'll be your inspiration.
I'll be your inspiration.
I'll be your inspiration.
I'll be your inspiration.***

When I felt seCURE I SAID
I shall never BE moved

You Lord in Your GOODNESS AND FAVOUR
Have made me strong like A mountain

Then when You hid your FACE FROM ME
I was utterly DISmayed

To You, O LORD DID I CALL
I cried out to God FOR mercy.

What profit is THERE IN MY DEATH
If I go down to THE pit.

Will the dead dust be PRAISING YOU.
Will it tell of Your faithFULness

***When your dreams are lost and gone away
And you need someone to make your day
Here there comes a time when hope is gone
And you need some help to carry on
I'll be your inspiration.
I'll be your inspiration.
I'll be your inspiration. ***

Hear me God have MERCY ON ME
Oh Lord be MY helper.

You have turned my MOURNING TO DANCING
My sackcloth to clothes OF joy.

Therefore my heart will NEVER STOP SINGING
I'll give You thanks FOR ever.

Therefore my heart will NEVER STOP SINGING
I'll give You thanks FOR ever.

***When you look into my eyes
You can see there's no disguise
Don't be afraid to need someone
You don't have to be alone.
Don't be afraid to need someone
You don't have to be alone. ***

Glory to the Father AND TO THE SON
And glory to THE Spirit.

As it was in the begINNING IS NOW
And shall be for ever. AAmen.

Brilliant Intercessions footage

I've just discovered "your chance to live: Earthwatch 1972" whilst having a good scout around the Prelinger video archive which contains many public domain movies. Its got some brilliant footage for intercessions etc. (tsunamis, earthquakes, forest fires etc). This particular footage needs a good edit however before it is actually used in a service! The really good stuff starts at least halfway through so be patient.
http://www.archive.org/details/YourChan1972

More Jon Hopkins

I've just bought the new Jon Hopkins album, which came out (I think) at the end of last year. Its called "insides" and there are a number of blissful ambient background tracks on there. The best of the bunch is "light through the veins" which you will probably recognise because Coldplay sample it. The worst track on the album is "insides" which is one of those "death by cheesegrater" tracks. If you're downloading the album as separate tracks I'd give that one a miss! The last section of "Vessel" also ends up being rather reminiscent of the cheese grater too, which is a shame because the first half of the track is very beautiful. Anyway my advice is check it out, but listen to the tracks before you buy, as you might not want to buy all of them.

Hello Waveforms (and Bono)

I bought some more William Orbit today, via a kind of roundabout route.

While everyone else recently has been arguing about whether they like Alexandra Burke, Jeff Buckley or Cohen's orginal "Hallelujah" I accidentally stumbled across Bono's version (which I discovered because some journalist was slagging it off somewhere!) While he was throwing around his snide comments, he posted the link to the Youtube file and I decided that I liked it better than all the others.

The reason that I particularly liked it was that it wasn't trying to be a cover. Bono was trying to do something different with the iconic song, to pay homage to the original rather than blindly copy it. Anyway I couldn't find it on the itunes store, and so had to get it on Amazon (on an album called "Tower of Song" which has some other tributes which may also be interesting). Because I could get free delivery if I also bought some other music, I decided to check out Hello Waveforms by Willliam Orbit. You can hear the preview on Williamorbit.com, and its very lovely. He has returned to an updated version of his Strange Cargo style, and there are loads of tracks that I'd be very happy to use to back prayers and liturgies. Its just lovely blissful chillout (although there are lyrics on some of the tracks so you can't use them all). I was surprised to hear him use Autotune on his vocalist's voice though. I thought he'd be averse to that sort of thing! Anyway check out "Hello Waveforms", you might like it!

Morphing Jesus

So many people recently have commented on how powerful they have found the morphing images of Christ. Here is the link to Jonny Baker's blog posting about it.

Here is the file itself

Jeff Cardoni

I've just been watching CSI Miami and I was struck by the music that they were playing as Alex leaves. Sometimes a track sticks out as being something special and it made my ears prick up. So I did a bit of searching around and discovered that the track was specially written by Jeff Cardoni, who has written quite a bit of music for CSI and other series. He has his own website (Jeffcardoni.com) and you can hear the piece "Farewell to Alex" on there. But he also has quite a few pieces available on the itunes store too.

Enjoy!

Sue

Moses Story.

This story is based on the old testament reading for this Sunday. Hopefully it speaks for itself....

Moses story.

I was a refugee really, and it was my own fault. Once upon a time I had had it all. I was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter and lived in a palace, but my hot temper got me into trouble. I saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, and knowing that they were my own people, anger flared inside me, so I killed the bully, but of course you cannot hide crimes like that easily. They catch up with you, and so it was with me.

The Pharaoh tried to kill me, and suddenly I had to run for my life. I didn't really think or plan, I just ran off to the land of Midian. But, thankfully the people in Midian were kind to me, took me in, and let me live as one of their own. A priest there let me marry one of his daughters, and I made a new life for myself. I even forgot I'd ever lived as an Egyptian, and yet, that time I spent in that land, and the language of my youth, those years I thought were wasted, were to come in very useful later, but I didn't know that then.

So then I became a shepherd. I didn't have sheep of my own, I wasn't that rich, but I tended the flock of my father in Law Jethro the Midian Priest. He was a kind man, who looked after us well, but sometimes i did wonder if he only did this because of his daughter,. still, no matter, we were fed and housed and felt useful. Some people would say it was a bit of a come down, being reduced to overseeing sheep after being in the civil service, but I didn't care. The atmosphere was less opressive and I saw much less cruelty with only the occasional lion or bear to chase away.

But then came my big life changing event....The event which was so incredible that I know some people's eyebrows will shoot up when I tell it. For there I was, looking after the sheep, and frankly i was a little bored, because sheep don't really do much, apart from eat and walk around and go baa. I thought for a second I'd been daydreaming, so I pinched myself, but, no, that was not the case, I was really seeing what I was seeing.

It was a bush." So what" you may reply," there are plenty of bushes in the desert", maybe so, but this bush was on fire. Yes you might reply, well the hot sun can scorch bushes sometimes and they can combust if the atmosphere is dry.
OK, well in that case why are the leaves of this bush green and vibrant? In fact the bush seemed to be doing rather well even though it was on fire. I was truly very puzzled. It was a bizarre sort of phenomenon, but maybe if I went closer there would be a more obvious explanation as to why this was so.

So I walked closer, and then I heard the VOICE. It called me by name. The BUSH called me by name. Not just "Oy you, shepherd blokey" but "Moses" How could a bush possibly know my name? So I said , somewhat shakily "here I am" I didn't know what else to say really. I was here, I was scared but I hadn't run away...yet. And I was playing for time to see what the voice said next. And then the voice said "Come no closer. And take off your sandals, you are standing on holy ground."

So I did what the bush told me, and took off my sandals, and yes I could feel the holiness of that earth tingling beneath my feet as I stared at the bush, gently shaking and wondering who it was that was talking to me. It must be someone important. An angel perhaps.

And as the voice identified itself, I hid my head with shame and wonder, for it was GOD. THE God, the one TRUE God. THe God of our fathers Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. Not any old wooden pretend God such as the ones the locals worshipped. Nope the real deal. And I was afraid to see his face for I might die of shock. Part of me felt like I should kneel or something, but I was rooted to the spot, so I just listened as the voice told me more.

"I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out becase of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering."

And I felt moved. Because all that time when the Israelites had been saying. Where is God, doesn't He know we are suffering, doesn't he care? It turned out, that all that long lonely time, he had been listening, and He did care, and he was concerned, was hatching rescue plans, and now and he was going to put them into action, to do something about it! I was thrilled to see what He was going to come up with. What stunningly huge armies he was going to send to beat up the baddies and rescue the innocent.

The voice promised that he would take the people to a land flowing with milk and honey, a land populated by many other tribes. But then came the scariest bit of this conversation. The voice told me to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites back.
erm ME. not an army of angels, not a human army or even a super human giant. Nope. Just me. One person verses the ruler of an empire. And then I really felt shaky.

For who Am I? I'm just one sad skint refugee. And so I asked that question. Who am I that I should be given this enormous task? Nobody special that's sure.
But God replied. "I will be with you. And as a sign I promise you will come and worship me on this mountain when its all over."
So I was not alone, but at that moment I certainly felt a little alone, for the company of this great and mighty being, was so awesome and amazing. yet I tried to reassure myself. For God actually said that this huge task was something that HE was going to do,not something that I was going to do. And so maybe I should just try to do what He said and not get in the way, not keep my sandals on and ruin his plans, but take them off and listen to His guiding voice.

But even so, I couldn't resist asking this deity its name. Me, moses, asking the creator of the universe what I should call him. I was a bit scared even phrasing the question, so I sort of did it cunningly. I created a scenario where the Israelites asked me what they should call God and asked God in a second hand sort of way. I thought he might be less angry about the rudeness then, for if you know someone's name, you have power over them. You call it out, and they will turn round!

But God was not angry. But then nor did he give a direct answer. He gave more of a description than a real name. He said "I am who I am", but he said so in the Hebrew language, which has no tenses, so he also said, I will be who I will be, and I was who I was. He just is, he just was, he just will be. A kind of constant rock in an ever changing world. And a God who reaches into our future as well as our past, who knows what's coming, and has it all planned already, like a reassuring peek at the last page of a novel that is only half read.

And then he said that this is his name forever and his title for all generations. So there it was, I had the most daunting task I had ever been given, one that seemed impossible. For surely I would be arrested and hanged as soon as I set foot in Egypt. But, I also had this promise, from none other than the Creator of the Universe, that I would get out of Egypt alive a promise given by someone who had been with me in that future, who was going to be with me in that future, and who KNEW that it would be so.

Transfiguration Hymn.

This new hymn looks suspiciously like my Epiphany Hymn, but I have tweaked the lyrics for the feast of the Transfiguration. Feel free to use if you wish. (the tune is "I vow to thee my country").

O Christ, You came from Heaven to Earth,
Infinity made small
Revealing Heaven's surprising plans,
You show God's face to all.
We offer You our gold,
That is we crown You as our king.
The incense of our worship, A fragrant offering.
And with myrrh we'll touch the wounded ones
With precious healing balm
Be your eyes and ears and healing hands
To comfort those who mourn.

We have looked for love and seen its face,
Within a loveless world,
And to those who hope for happiness
Your glory is revealed
For we saw Your face while searching,
And Your love grew in our lives
And we know tranfiguration
As clarity arrives.
Even now You guide the travellers,
Through dangerous dark lands.
Till the day we reach our Heavenly home
Held safe within Your hands

Christ You dived into our water
and you made our water pure
And You lived within our tangled lives
and made them so much more
For the hand of God has touched us,
Bringing Christ into this place
And there's hope for each culture,
Each nation, every race
For the Christ-Child grew
and showed us
The true face of the Divine
For we simply lived on water
Yet you turned it into wine.

Stones

I was going to say "This was the mediation we did on Sunday". Actually this isn't quite true, as I forgot to bring the script with me, but thankfully remembered most of it off by heart. But anyway this was the meditation we almost did on Sunday, when the lectionary had a lot of readings about rocks in it!


You might like to hold your stone, while we say the following meditation.
It is based on lots of incidents where stones appear throughout the bible. The stones that built the temple, David killing Goliath, the stoning of Stephen, the Spriritual temple mentioned in the first letter of Peter, the many mansions that Jesus tells us are in God's house. The cairn that was built when the Isreallites crosses the Jordan while God held back the water, and the stones that Jesus said would cry out if the people stopped shouting Hosanna as he rode into Jerusalem.


What can you do with a stone?`

You can do many different things.
You can throw your stones at a dangerous person
Your definition of dangerous
being someone you disagree with.
you can beat them till they cry
"Lord Jesus recieve my spirit"
And they lay their head down and die.

You can build them into a house,
A temple house for God
Carve pomegranates and angels, to decorate the borders.
And know that God will come and visit
The structure you have made.

You can stretch up your head,
And admire the cornerstone at the top
The one that holds al the others together
And know that someone once rejected it,
But now it has the highest place.

You can launch your stone within a slingshot
And kill a warrior and giant
But save a persecuted people.
But your stone would then be bloody
Even though you saved some lives.

You can lead a spiritually hungry people
Through a dry and dusty desert.
And when their mouths are parched with thirst
Strike a stone with your old staff
And watch clean water gushing out.

You can build a cairn,
To remember a great miracle
Like holding back the jordan river
For travellers to cross

You can build a house with many stones
And know that there is room
For everyone within its walls.
But that there is just one way in,
One door that's open wide.

You could march seven times around stone walls
And watch them tumble down.
So prisoners can be released
And evil rulers sacked.

You can give it to your child,
When they ask you for some bread.
But you know deep down you wouldn't
Because you want them to eat well
And grow up beautiful and strong.

You can put your ear next to your stone.
And listen for its song.
Knowing that if we stopped our praises
It would cry hosanna to the king.

Your stone can kill, your stone can build,
Your stone might sing, or might gush water.
The choice is yours.
What do you most want
To do with your stone?