Exploring Change Together
From the Rector
Over the winter and spring, we've been experimenting with a few key elements of our worship: how the sanctuary is set up, and how we make music together. In January, we turned the chairs into the round, with the altar set as the focal point at our center so that we were all on the same level and able to see each other. Around the same time, Jack began introducing us to CircleSongs, a kind of community-generated improvised singing. Then late in Lent, Bobby McFerrin, Dave Worm, and their crew began leading us deeper into this way of making music together. In today’s Ministry News, I want to share about what we’ve been hearing and learning. Warning — this is a long one — because I want to share fully what you’ve shared with me!
First, I want to explain some of the staff’s reasoning behind these experiments. For moving into the round, we wondered if sitting in a circle would make liturgy feel more like something we were creating together and less like something people were observing. We believe that liturgy is the work of the people — that is the root of the word liturgy, “the work of the people”! We want to move into a place where every participant, new or seasoned, is a part of creating the liturgy, and we felt that being in the round would facilitate that. Together with that, we are paying attention to the ways our theology has shifted to viewing church as the whole community’s creation and not just the act of a priest. We imagined that having the altar in the middle and the congregation physically gathered around it would help us embody this theology.
Another central reason for trying church in the round was what it would make possible musically. One of the goals of the music program at Church of the Resurrection is that singing be a foundational practice of the community. Our hope is that every person who comes to church feels welcomed to sing and experiences singing as a key element to the liturgy. We hoped that having our voices pointed at each other so that we can really hear each other would make group singing that much more potent and powerful. We believed that the choir would be able to better lead congregational singing while mixed into the circle and that their anthems would be easier to hear. We imagined a cappella singing in particular would be more viable and more powerful.
With CircleSongs, our hope was to deepen this theology of all being co-creators of our worship together. We imagined that it would be a practice — sometimes beautiful, sometimes challenging, sometimes funny or uncomfortable — that would invite us to listen more closely to one another and explore how we might join in. We also hoped that it would be a chance to set down our bulletins and be present in a different way to what was happening, perhaps listening and seeing in a new way, without having to follow the music on the page. Finally, it felt like a Holy Spirit moment worth paying attention to, especially as Bobby, Dave, and co. began joining us and offering their gifts so readily... we were curious to see what might happen if we experimented with following the Spirit here!
Any time we experiment with how we live together in community, I am eager to hear about your experiences of these new ways of being together. How did it feel? What was life-giving? What was difficult? Where is the Spirit is calling us next? We gathered during the adult formation hour in February to discuss worship in the round and improv singing, and then also invited feedback through an online survey. Through those forums for feedback, as well as through lots of informal conversation, we have learned a great deal.
I’ll begin with some of the responses to church in the round. What we heard was that, on the whole, most of the congregation really appreciates having the sanctuary set in a circle. People reflected feeling like church was more intimate and connected, that they appreciated seeing people's faces rather than the backs of each other's heads, they were glad to have the clergy and worship leaders together with the congregation rather than separated. Most especially, people loved how it was so much easier to hear each other singing and help our music soar together. Folks also pointed out how logistically it was sometimes clunky: the flow to come up for communion and return to seats was awkward, it sometimes felt hard to find a seat, and being in the round made more work for the Altar Guild in particular. And, some folks also found the change in arrangement uncomfortable. Some shared that they felt vulnerable being more visible to other people, they felt concerned that the worship leaders had their backs to some people, and that they missed being focused altogether looking in the same direction at the altar. Overall, though, most people we heard from were glad to be in the round, felt like it more closely matched our culture of being a warm, laid-back, non-hierarchical, and welcoming church, and many have voiced a longing to return to that arrangement again.
We returned to facing forward just before Easter for a couple reasons. First, we changed it back because I had said, from the outset, that it was an experiment, not a permanent change. Second, on a more practical note, we can't fit enough chairs into the church when it's in the round to accommodate all the visitors at Easter! My hope is that in all things, we will continue to be flexible, and that we will experiment, reflect, and learn — which means embracing evolution, continuing to explore how we can more fully embody our theology of making church together.
As for the feedback shared on CircleSongs, it once again revealed how there is a wide range of perspectives and experiences represented at Church of the Resurrection — which I believe is one of our greatest gifts! Many people shared how they were hesitant at first, and how to some extent they still feel vulnerable trying to sing when we don't have music in front of us. To that, I would say, me too! Jack and I have marveled at how vulnerable a practice it is, and certainly that is true for the folks leading, perhaps more than for anyone else. Many people also shared how they appreciate the playfulness, creativity, energy, and organic beauty that can emerge as we create this music on the spot together. Especially for some people who are new to the church and unfamiliar with traditional hymns, the simplicity of the CircleSongs felt more accessible to join in singing. Others noted how it felt like a point of greater connection with other people in worship, by putting down the bulletin and paying closer attention to what we were creating
together. We also heard how people appreciated how, with CircleSongs, our music could be a response to what God was up to right in that moment — celebrating the sunlight that just came in, or some shared delight, or a fresh truth rising out of a sermon — made possible because the music was unfolding right in that moment. Some of the concerns voiced included people feeling uncomfortable in feeling put more on the spot to sing, feeling confused about how to join in without having sheet music, and not enjoying the repetition. As with feedback about being in the round, much of what we heard about CircleSongs has been positive, and we're also working hard to be responsive to the feedback of people for whom it feels uncomfortable.
About a year ago, the vestry did some deep discernment around our music program and who we hoped to call to be our next music director. One of the key priorities they lifted up was finding someone who could lead us deeper into a wide diversity of music. With this charge, we'll keep exploring new sources of music, while also remaining rooted in our Anglican tradition and continuing to sing the many gems from our hymnal. We're trying to pay close attention to the balance we strike, both in any given worship service and also across the seasons. And again, we always welcome your feedback: what is feeding you? What are you longing to sing together? How can we better support you in learning our worship music and sharing your energy and spirit more fully? We want to hear it all.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, feelings, and your experience of worship so freely with me, the staff, and the vestry. One of the things that has crystalized for me in these conversations is how, no matter what we do in worship, there will always be some people who love it and some whom it doesn’t really nourish. There are many gifts that come with being a diverse community, and this is one of the correlating challenges! My hope is that when we encounter an aspect that doesn’t work for us, be it the arrangement of the sanctuary, choice of words, selection of music, or something else, we can all practice looking around at the rest of the body. Chances are, there is someone else nearby who is delighting in the very thing that leaves us squirming. Perhaps that knowledge can feed us, then — the knowledge that we’re all taking turns, finding a balance together, and working to have everyone find what they need here.
And, of course, there’s more we’re after, something greater we’re trying to build together. My hope is that all of this is pointing us in the direction of being knit more closely together in our worship, being rooted more deeply in our connection with God, and growing more fully as a community that creates and revels in beauty together, especially through music. I’m grateful for your flexibility, your openness to experiment and learn together, and most of all, I’m grateful to be on this adventure together with you all. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks and love,
Liz+
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