Ship of Fools: Lenten Midweek Service

Thread: Lenten Midweek Service Board: Ecclesiantics / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Gramps49 (# 16378) on :

What program does your parish follow?

Over the past ten years, we have been studying select movies. We usually have general viewings leading up to Lent and then during lent we review segments of the movie.

In the past, we have reviewed movies such as Babbit's Feast, Chocolat, and Nebraska. This year we will do Pleasantville, which is a fantasy in which two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves in a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world.

See Video

We finish the evening with Vespers or an Evening Song.

How do you observe lent?

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

We begin with a meatless potluck dinner then move into the church for Stations of the Cross, and then back to the parish hall for some sort of Lenten program which is different each year, usually a book discussion. The nice thing about this format is that people can come for one, two, or all three parts of the evening. I don't know yet what this year's program will be.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

We used simply to continue with our single mid-week service, a Eucharist (with homily) at 730pm on Wednesdays.

Now that we are in an interregnum, the only service so far planned is the evening Eucharist on Ash Wednesday. I've suggested a lay-led service on Wednesdays, at or around noon, which would be accessible to older folk and young Mums - our principal demographic - but no decision has yet been made.

IJ

Posted by Barnabas Aus (# 15869) on :

Our Wednesday and Thursday 10am eucharists [each with brief homily] in the two town churches will continue. On the last four Friday evenings of Lent we will share in Stations of the Cross with our RC brothers and sisters in the four town churches across the parishes [3 or 4 stations per week with hymns and homily]. Our country church will host an evening Lenten study group each week.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I'd running a series on the history behind and the symbolism of the Triduum liturgies.

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Which hopefully will encourage the faithful to turn out in force to those powerful and moving liturgies...

Re Stations of the Cross, we've found that, rather than having a 'stand alone' service on (say) Friday evenings in Lent, it's better to add it on to our usual Saturday morning Mass, on two occasions, to follow it with Benediction or Eucharistic Devotions on one Sunday afternoon, and (this year, I hope), to add it to a short midday liturgy of Communion from the Reserved Sacrament on a couple of Wednesdays.

IJ

Posted by Gwalchmai (# 17802) on :

Compline on Wednesday evenings. Very peaceful in a dark church lit only by a few candles.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Gwalchmai:
Compline on Wednesday evenings. Very peaceful in a dark church lit only by a few candles.

Yes, we have the same (Wednesday also, as it happens). Our excellent Director of Music organises a choir from the University who sing ecumenical services during term (among other things) - including Compline during Lent and Advent.

This follows on from the meditation group which meets beforehand during various parts of the year,
with a particular emphasis, again, on Lent and Advent.

Posted by venbede (# 16669) on :

I have come across at a couple of churches Stations of the Cross followed by a truncated euchatrist, ie Stations replace the liturgy of the word and mass starts at the offertory.

I just sense something wrong there.

(Not a great fan of Stations - I always feel I am failing to feel as harrowed as the devotions seem to expect me to feel.)

[ 16. February 2017, 16:06: Message edited by: venbede ]

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Which hopefully will encourage the faithful to turn out in force to those powerful and moving liturgies...

That is my hope - turnout has been shamefully low for the past few tears.

Posted by BabyWombat (# 18552) on :

The local RC’s have invited we TECs to join them for Stations on Friday nights during Lent. It is preceded by an inexpensive fish fry supper, which makes for a chummy evening.

We have the Bishop’s visitation on Low Sunday, so Confirmation class is well underway and will continue as Lenten education in my shack: just one young couple as confirmands, but several parishioners joining in.

We have been trying to revive a weekly Sunday lunch education gathering during Lent with folks from two neighboring parishes. We’ve done this in the past, rotating through the parishes week by week. However, we’re bogged down: each parish has their principal service at a different time (9:30, 10 and 11 respectively) so as with the last time we tried this, the early folks don’t like the idea of waiting around….. either for lunch or for study! If we can pass that hurdle we will then need to sort out just what it is we will do -- we have 3 different ideas floating about at present.

Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :

Being in the wilderness currently, Great Lent is a time where I greatly miss the Orthodox Church's services.

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings we have Great Compline (text) -- I do find the reading of the Prayer of Manassah greatly comforting.

Wednesday evening are the Presanctified Liturgy.

Fridays are the Akathist hymns.

Also in there is St Andrew of Crete's Great Canon of Repentance. Text can be found here. As with many Orthodox services, long, very long [it is read once in it entirety late in Great Lent and split up during the first week], but when we reached the end I always wanted more.

This was the schedule at my Antiochian parish in Sydney. I believe other jurisdictions do things differently. I rarely attended all; perhaps 2-3 a week. Though all praise to priest, deacon and choir for keeping the services going.

[ 18. February 2017, 20:41: Message edited by: Ian Climacus ]

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