Sunday Services 2001

Welcome to Sunday Services 2001

This site is provided by the Archbishop of Sydney's Liturgical Panel to make the material in the book Sunday Services available in electronic form for use in Overheads, PowerPoint or service sheets. We also hope that those outside the diocese will benefit from our making this material available in this form.

Sunday Services Online provides important explanatory material that will assist you in understanding and using the services. By investing a few minutes in reading these pages you will gain more out of them.

Important Copyright Information

The text is copyright, however permission is given for reproduction of this material provided no commercial advantage is obtained. Notice of copyright must appear on the title page or at the end of the services as follows:

There is no charge for us of the material.

All use must comply with the requirements of The Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia. Enquiries concerning these requirements may be directed to a regional Archdeacon.

It is important that people manipulating the text files do not change the text nor alter the structure in any significant way. Such actions will mean that a service, for which permission to use has been obtained, is no longer authorised and also breaches the terms and conditions governing use of this material.

Introduction

This collection of resources aims to provide a liturgy which is biblical in content, intelligible in language and appropriate to our time and culture.

Christians meet with the risen Christ. Jesus died in our place, was raised from death and ascended to heaven where he is worshipped by the redeemed people of God and the whole creation. Here on earth, Christians join in the praises of the heavenly assembly.

God's people have always assembled with him. In the Old Testament period, their identity was shaped by the experience at Mount Sinai. The law called them to meet with God through the mediation of priests and Levites. The ritual of temple and priesthood was superseded by the work of Jesus on the cross. In the New Testament period, meeting together with God was no less important (Hebrews 10.25). Through Christ, in one Spirit, we draw near to the Father, to worship him, to learn from him, to be edified and to encourage one another to love and good deeds, as we serve God in the world.

No pattern for the meeting of Christians is set down by the New Testament. In the book of Acts and the Epistles, however, there are indications of what they did when they met. They sang, heard the Scriptures read and explained, remembered and proclaimed the death of Jesus, and offered prayers not only for themselves but for all people.

In time, Christians developed forms and patterns for meeting together, which we call liturgy. The regular use of an agreed liturgy plays an educative and pastoral role, for it can uphold doctrinal orthodoxy and build a framework for devotion to God. It also helps maintain fellowship between congregations.

As Anglicans, we stand in the Reformation tradition of Archbishop Cranmer who compiled what became The Book of Common Prayer (1662). Cranmer's aim was to give Scripture and its teaching central place in liturgy. He sought also to be clear, simple and intelligible so that the people of his day could readily understand what was said and done in church.

For Australian Anglicans, The Book of Common Prayer was the only authorised liturgy until 1978. With the publication in that year of An Australian Prayer Book, there were more resources, a modernising of Cranmer's services and an attempt to do in a fresh way for Australians what Cranmer had done in the sixteenth century for England. Since 1978, other liturgies have been produced in Australia and around the world, often because the earlier revisions dated quickly. An Australian Prayer Book is well used and liked in many places; for others it is too bookish and stilted.

This current edition of Sunday Services is an attempt to present services which will glorify the God we serve and build up and encourage his people when we gather in his name.

Margaret Collison, Glenn Davies, Trevor Edwards (Secretary), Robert Forsyth, Raymond Heslehurst, Lesley Hicks, Boak Jobbins (Chair), David Lakos, John Mason, Paul Perini, Lindsay Stoddart, Lawrence Bartlett (Consultant).

understanding and using this book
Sunday Services is a collection of services designed to suit a variety of occasions in most parish churches on Sundays. It contains two types of regular service: those modelled on the Morning and Evening Prayer pattern and those for the Lord's Supper. There is also a service of initiation.

The Sunday Services web site includes an extra service, A Service for Today's Church, that has not been included in the book itself. This service can be adapted either for a 'word and prayer service' or for a Lord's Supper. The recent origin of the service is A Modern Liturgy in Prayer Book Revision for Australia (1966), but it reflects the intended use of BCP, with its weekly combination of Morning Prayer, the Litany and the Ante-Communion, with only occasional celebrations of the Lord's Supper.

Within that general description, there is great variety. Each service allows alternatives and room for flexibility. Before using any of the services, familiarise yourself with them all, together with the introductory notes. You will then be able to choose the most appropriate form.

Having chosen the service to use, you will then need to add the components - Bible readings, hymns and songs, prayers, other music and so on. Music has the power to move our wills and emotions. If used well, it can also be an effective medium for teaching. Its purpose is to support a service rather than control it, so take care with the choice of music, where in the service it is placed and the tunes used.

Another issue is what to put in the hands of the congregation. Some churchgoers are comfortable being given a book. For others, this is off-putting. For each occasion, you might print an order of service, with the hymns and Bible readings so that people have all they need on one sheet of paper. Alternatively, print the outline of the service on a reusable card. While the text is supplied in its entirety on this site, text should be kept to a minimum, using the major headings so that people understand the flow of the service, together with those parts said by the congregation. They do not need the text of the leader's parts, nor the notes about the placement of Bible readings and sermons: simple headings are enough. Another option is to distribute nothing, using an overhead or data projector for the people's parts.

The clear structure of the services in Sunday Services will both free people to participate and teach them what is significant about their meeting together. If you are reprinting any of the material, please ensure the major headings are included so the congregation knows what it is doing and where it is going. Similarly, when you reprint the congregation's parts, please observe the line breaks: they are there to aid understanding and participation together.

reading the bible in church
Anglican liturgical practice has always given the Bible central place in all its services. From the beginning, it was intended that each service contain a psalm as well as readings from the Old and New Testaments: the purpose was to help people become familiar with the full account of God's work in his world. Each year various lectionaries are produced to facilitate that.

The structure of the services in Sunday Services assumes that the Bible will continue to take a central place in our liturgies. If a standard lectionary is used, the sermon might explain one or all of the readings. If a teaching program separate from the lectionary is being followed, then one of the readings may be replaced by one on which the sermon is based: in this case, an attempt should be made to maintain the continuity of the unchanged readings. Alternatively, where a teaching program is followed, another reading may be added just prior to the sermon.

the use of the historic creeds
Although the New Testament contains what might be called apostolic affirmations, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20, 1 Timothy 3:16, the early church developed creeds to state and defend those beliefs held in common by all Christians. The Apostles' and Nicene creeds stand as agreed confessions of our common faith in the person and work of the triune God, in which we praise and honour God together with all Christians in all times and places. It is therefore appropriate that one of these historic creeds should be a standard feature of our gatherings. There may be occasions when an apostolic affirmation from the Bible or a song declaring the Christian faith is suitable. However, to remain true to the Christian faith, which is trinitarian, and to our Anglican heritage, those who lead services should ensure that the norm is to use one of the historic creeds.

the lord's prayer
In response to a disciple's request, 'Lord, teach us to pray' (Luke 11:1), Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer. Whether it was intended as a pattern for prayer or to be said on each occasion Christians pray, the Anglican custom is that it is said at some point in each service. It is helpful as a model for prayer and ought to continue as a regular feature.

the collects or prayers for the day
Originally, the purpose of the Collect was to collect into a prayer the thrust of the readings and the theme of the particular day in the Church's year. It is recommended that the practice of a prayer for the day be continued. BCP and AAPB are a rich source for such prayers. If a prayer is to be composed, the writer should bear in mind the purpose of prayers for the day.

posture
The Book of Common Prayer gave detailed instructions about standing, kneeling and sitting at different points in services. These days local custom generally prevails. Where they occur in Sunday Services, the directions to stand, sit or kneel are suggestions only.

Services of Prayer, Praise and Proclamation

The three Prayer, Praise and Proclamation services provide a variety of forms for the gathering of God's people. Each takes its shape around the regular reading of the Bible. PPP 1 commences with confession; PPP 2 begins with praise and thanksgiving, with the confession coming as a response to the preaching; PPP 3 allows for the sermon to be the climax of the service.

Perhaps more than the other services in Sunday Services, these will work best if the leader has plenty of time to plan and prepare. They can be fresh and different each time and hang together as a whole if music, prayers, confessions are all carefully chosen.

As we have noted, each service has a particular shape: the different shapes suit different occasions. Think about a particular occasion - what is its purpose? who will be present? what is the theme? - before deciding which form to use. Once the purpose of a service is clear and what it is meant to achieve, choosing options and alternatives is much easier.

At several points, you can use the alternatives listed below, under Occasional Prayers and Other Resources and also BCP or AAPB. Be careful to ensure an alternative set of words serves the same purpose as those they replace. The Declaration of Forgiveness should be replaced with a declaration of forgiveness, not with another prayer for forgiveness.

Download services of Prayer, Praise and Proclamation (55KB)

Occasional Prayers And Other Resources
These occasional prayers are provided for use at appropriate points in the Sunday services to enrich and facilitate the prayer participation of the congregation in our worship together. The language is varied and aims to be simple and contemporary, with the lines short, rhythmical and easy to read aloud.

The selection is designed to be flexible, including both set prayers and patterns for prayer. There is a range of set prayers of varying length, complexity and content within each category, while the patterns provide suggestions and guidelines and allow a choice of wording by the leader with set congregational responses.

The selection in this book is not intended to cover all possible needs and occasions. Other more comprehensive modern resources are available.

For many regular Sunday worshippers, personal prayer during the week may be unstructured and narrowly focussed. These occasional prayers, while primarily designed for Sunday services, may also be used to enrich and widen the focus of the daily prayer life of the church member.

Download Thanksgivings (9kb)
Download Confessions (11kb)
Download Intercessions (34kb)
Download Dismissals (8kb)
Download Affirmations of Faith (15kb)

Services of the Lord's Supper

form 1: why this form?
This order of the Lord's Supper is meant to be no more than an up to date translation of the Holy Communion Service in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of 1662. It intends to follow closely the shape and theology of Book of Common Prayer (BCP) while using accessible contemporary language.

While other services of the Lord's Supper may include emphases on the resurrection of Christ and his coming again, this particular Holy Communion, deriving from Thomas Cranmer's remarkable service of 1552, is unambiguously focussed on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The service is therefore a modern presentation of the classic Anglican Lord's Supper, and was written to keep this style of service, with its special focus on the atonement and justification by faith.

form 2: why this form?
The Second Order is a development of the Lord's Supper services in Experimental Sunday Services 93 and is intended to meet the need for a simple but meaningful Lord's Supper service in a modern form.

The Second Order of the Lord's Supper is two versions of the one service [A and B]. Second Order A has the confession of sin early in the service and a modern version of the prayer of humble access in the Preparation for Communion. The Second Order B has the confession later in the service as part of the Preparation for Communion and there is provision for the greeting of peace following it. Otherwise both versions are identical.

Using these Forms
The services are in two basic parts. Gathering in God's Name, Hearing God's Word and The Prayers form the first part and may be conducted from where services of the word and prayer are normally conducted. The second part of the service, which begins with Preparation for Communion, focuses particularly on the Holy Communion and should be conducted entirely from the Holy Table with the possible exception of the last section, Going out to Serve (in Form 2).

Download Service of the Lord's Supper 1 (41kb)
Download Service of the Lord's Supper 2 (A & B) (65kb)

Order of Baptism

This Order for Infant Baptism is offered as a simplified version of "An Order for Baptism 1973", which was produced in Sydney and formed the basis of An Australian Prayer Book First Order. The only difference in structure is the use of Second Order style questions to the candidate.

This service may be inserted into services of Prayer, Praise and Proclamation or the Lord's Supper and replaces the creed.

Whenever possible, baptism should be administered at a public service, not only so that the whole congregation may welcome the newly-baptised into Christ's church, but also so that Christians may be reminded of the profession of faith and obedience to God which they made in their own baptism.

It is desirable that the child's parents join the godparents in answering the questions in this service. Parents may be godparents for their own child.

The congregation may be invited to join in saying the words at # 7 We praise the God and Father

If this service is used apart from a public service on Sundays, readings may be taken from the following or other suitable passages: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 127; Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 1:1-11; Mark 10:13-16; John 3:1-8; Acts 2:37-42; Romans 6:1-11; Galatians 3:23-29.

Download Service of Infant Baptism (14kb)

A Service for Today's Church

A Service for Today's Church has its origins in "A Modern Liturgy", an experimental form of service prepared by the General Synod Prayer Book Commission and published in Prayer Book Revision in Australia in 1966. A Modern Liturgy was intended as the principal service of Sunday, whether morning or evening, when the congregation as a whole came together and the Lord's Supper was administered: it was also to be used when there was no communion. As such, A Modern Liturgy was designed in one order of service to do what in 1662 was done in the three services of Morning Prayer, the Litany and Holy Communion, or ante-communion where there was no communion.

It was John Mason who conceived of a return to A Modern Liturgy as a way ahead in liturgical revision. Over several years, in consultation with others, he prepared several versions of A Service for Today's Church. It has been used extensively and adjusted in light of comments and reactions.

The particular features of A Service for Today's Church are that it is adaptable, flexible and can provide cohesion within a parish. It is able to be used as a Morning or Evening service and as a service of Holy Communion without the Communion section being an appendage. Likewise, it has been used in a formal, traditional Anglican context where people value having every word printed out to follow and join in, as well as in congregations where a formal liturgical service is perceived as unfriendly and unedifying. Moreover, in church life today there is rarely one meeting time where the church of a given place can be said to gather. The norm is that different congregations meet at different times and adopt different service patterns, ranging from the formal to the informal. As a liturgical resource, ASTC can be used to meet the needs of both formal and informal styles of gathering. The single resource, with its recognisable framework and common prayers, can enhance the cohesion and sense of unity between the congregations that constitute a local church.

Download A Service for Today's Church - Morning / Evening Church
Download A Service for Today's Church - The Lord's Supper Or Holy Communion

Acknowledgements

Except where stated, texts are the original work of the Archbishop of Sydney's Liturgical Panel. Every effort has been made to identify owners of copyright material. Omissions will be rectified in future editions of this work.

Some section are based on An Australian Prayer Book (1978) and its sources and A Prayer Book for Australia (1995), © The Anglican Church of Australia Trust Corporation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

The English translations of The Lord's Prayer, The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed are those prepared by the English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC) with minor modification. Explanations for these modifications may be found in A Prayer Book for Australia (1995) pages 820-821.

The prayer at paragraph 17 of Lord's Supper (2A) is by David L. Frost © The Central Board of Finance of the Church of England, used by permission.