weekly report: week 7

Church of the Resurrection
Intern’s Weekly Report
Week 7
June 12, 2006 – June 18 2006


I had booked off June 18 to attend a friend’s baptism. Sadly, I had my dates confused and discovered at the last moment that the baptism had actually been the week before (the 11th). As I had told several people that I would not be in church this Sunday for that reason, I was loathe to go anyway and then have to explain how I had managed to get my dates so badly mixed up. I didn’t think that was something that would inspire their confidence in me.

So instead, I seized the chance to broaden my experience in the Anglican church and in liturgy, and did something Duke and I had discussed my doing several months ago: I went to a High Anglican Mass at St. Thomas’.

I found that the ritual… “did nothing for me”. In all truth, I found it painful and something of an obstruction to worship for me, and I could not imagine for the life of me why anyone would want to preserve this ritual. Then, reminding myself that I was not a tourist and that I was there to fulfil certain learning goals, I began to look around the congregation to see if I could “get a handle on” the kind of congregation that would choose to maintain this form of worship.

I began using the methodologies I had learned at Wycliffe, through David Reed’s years of excellent training in practical ministry, and began seeking answers to several key questions: who were these people in the pews? How old were they? What demographic groups did they fall into? How were they dressed? How did they interact with one another? Did they fidget throughout the service, or did their affect reflect a state of worship? What was the physical space like? The sides people? The Sunday school? and so on and so on, as I tried to understand the congregations “central story”.

Then I began to analyze the liturgy: why were the various prayers grouped as they were? Why did certain genuflections accompany certain statements of faith? And when the sermon began, I again began to deconstruct the preacher’s methodology; what were his key points? Were they logically and effectively made? Were there anecdotes to bolster and underscore his points? How effective was his exegesis?

Suddenly, two thoughts struck me at once:

a) I was looking at “church” from a very different point of view than I have ever employed before. I realized that I was now looking at church from the point of view of a “professional”.
b) Wycliffe’s stated goal is to “equip men and women for a life in ministry”. I realized that they seemed to be succeeding in that goal, if I was any example. The tools and methods that I used to “unpack” my brief visit to St. Thomas’ were all given to me at Wycliffe, by exceptional teachers and mentors, sharpened and honed by my own supervisor and by my practical experience in church.

In light of that last realization, it will be understood how a comment made by the visiting priest after the service gave me immense pride and pleasure. I introduced myself to both Rev. Andrews (the incumbent) and Rev. Harwood, the visiting minister. Rev Harwood told me that he knew Wycliffe well because he was a Trinity grad (he said with a laugh). Then he told me that when asked, he strongly encourages potential seminarians to study at Wycliffe, because as he said “they are turning out priests RIGHT!”

I couldn’t agree more.

I also sent David Reed a thank you note.