Ship of Fools: Responses to Paris attacks in Sunday worship

Thread: Responses to Paris attacks in Sunday worship Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=030429

Posted by Corvo (# 15220) on :

May I ask how your churches responded to the attacks in Paris in your Sunday morning worship?

With us it was mentioned in the intercessions and blessing, and a soloist sang a piece from the Requiem. However the preacher stuck to her prepared sermon and did not mention Paris at all.

Our church has no direct connection with France and there did not appear to be any extra people in the congregation.

[ 16. November 2015, 11:22: Message edited by: dj_ordinaire ]

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

I just want to say how interesting the typo in the title made this thread appear.

Unfortunately, due to my poor grasp of the language I don't really know what was said about Paris on Sunday morning. The sermon didn't appear to touch on it heavily, mainly following the Widows Mite lesson. Our prayer meeting in the evening was a time to pray for Paris, and the other parts of the world affected by terrorism.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

I had already prepared the service which was based in Mark 13:1-8 and the destruction of the Temple. This lent itself well to the issue of the day.

I wrote a new Call to Worship, and amended the opening prayer and prayers of intercession. The sermon got a new introduction but - since it was largely about trusting in God even though the foundations of our world and society seem to be shaken - it remained largely unchanged. Some of the hymns, chosen earlier in the week, gained new resonances.

Posted by Corvo (# 15220) on :

Maybe I should repost because of the terrible spellcheck correction and hope a moderator will intervene.

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

It was a little off-putting that nothing was said at the start of the service and we began the service with some relatively up-tempo sung worship.

It got a bit more sombre when we had a time of collective prayer.

France was one of the main focuses of our prayers, though we were also aware of the bombings in Beirut the day before and we had a Skype call with our sister church there.

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Corvo:
Maybe I should repost because of the terrible spellcheck correction and hope a moderator will intervene.

Thought-provoking though the typo was, it is now corrected.

dj_ordinaire, Eccles host

Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :

I preached on the same passage as Baptist Trainfan and re-shaped the service in a similar way, including a minute's silence at the start of the service.

I did have the weirdest experience though: I'd been strugging with writing the sermon loads; I'd been unable to find a focus for it, a "way in" for me to preach it and for the congregation to hear it. But what happened in Paris seemed to resonate with some of Jesus' words in the Mark 13 passage and made the sermon "happen" (I'm sorry for the vague language!).

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Mentioned in Father's homily, based on the Mark 13 1-8 Gospel, encouraging us not to be afraid, but to stand firm in Christ, whose Kingdom will prevail. Also mentioned in the Intercessions, which were ad-libbed by my fellow Reader, and therefore perhaps a bit more 'natural'.......

The attacks and their aftermath, as events unfold, will continue to be part of our prayers at the Daily Office in church.

I.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
I did have the weirdest experience though: I'd been strugging with writing the sermon loads; I'd been unable to find a focus for it, a "way in" for me to preach it and for the congregation to hear it. But what happened in Paris seemed to resonate with some of Jesus' words in the Mark 13 passage and made the sermon "happen" (I'm sorry for the vague language!).

Yes, I know the feeling. My original introduction had been about Isis destroying the monuments at Palmyra, so there was already a resonance there; but it seemed inadequate and too impersonal for the changed circumstances.

We always have a brief silence before worship begins, but yesterday's was perhaps a little longer.

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

I had Sunday Mass for the first time at the local women's college. It was packed, but I can't comment on whether that's normal or not.

I guess this must be one of the Sunday's when the Roman Lectionary and the RCL come apart, as we had Mark 13:24-32 as our gospel. Praying with the readings over the week, I'd settled on "Jesus gathers us" as my good news statement, but was struggling with quite what to do with that. The image of explosions as violent scattering, and Jesus' coming as the undoing of that by gathering, ended up driving the homily, which also used the liturgical image of our being gathered for Mass as a foretaste of the ultimate gathering. [See blog in sig]

There were prayers for Paris, Beirut and Baghdad in the prayers of the faithful.

For daily Mass the day before with my local community, I used the prayers for peace and justice, but these aren't really an option on a Sunday.

[ 16. November 2015, 12:30: Message edited by: Adam. ]

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :

Yes - the C of E and RCC did indeed have different Gospels yesterday, but, in a way, both were relevant under the circumstances......

I.

Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :

The lessons and hymns were changed, and the rector spoke about Paris (he wasn' preaching).

But in addition, there was a special time before the peace when we focused on the impending civil war in Burundi about 25% of the congregation are refugees from the civil war and subsequent persecution, and there's another in the works. Our people have seen, in the past three weeks, friends and neighbours of family massacred, relatives shot, relatives "disappeared" and family members forced to flee the country. It looks like tens and hundreds of thousands of refugees -- and hundreds if not thousands of deaths.

The cry of our Burundians is "And why does no one in the west care...why do they not even notice?"

Paris is a tragedy, and we marked it. But there are bigger tragedies out there that no one, it seems, is marking. (BTW, credit to the BBC for being the only media outlet that even knows where Burundi is.)

John

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by John Holding:
Paris is a tragedy, and we marked it. But there are bigger tragedies out there that no one, it seems, is marking.

Well done for saying so. In my sermon I briefly conjectured why "Paris" affected us much more than similar atrocities in Beirut or Kabul. It's got something to do with proximity, familiarity and our feeling that somewhere like Paris ought to be a safe place.

Posted by Swick (# 8773) on :

The attacks in Paris formed half of the sermon, our dean read a letter from the Dean of the American Cathedral in Paris about the attacks, and we prayed for the victims during the prayers of the people.

The gist of the sermon and letter was that anti-Muslim feeling will probably increase, and that the murderers represent a tiny tiny fraction of Muslims.

Posted by The Scrumpmeister (# 5638) on :

Church is open most weekdays for prayer, and a large candle has been placed near the entrance with a request to pray for France. That remained in situ during the Sunday Mass. There was mention made in the words of welcome, and we were asked to remember the people of Paris during the Angelus.

Posted by Stephen (# 40) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Yes - the C of E and RCC did indeed have different Gospels yesterday, but, in a way, both were relevant under the circumstances......

I.

Never a one to be outdone, we had Mark 13,1-8 and 24-32.......
[Smile]

and yes almost scarily relevant.....

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

The preacher in the morning spoke about the hope that is at the heart of the Mark 13 passage and led a meditation on terrorism and standing firm.

I preached in the evening on the parable of the yeast/leaven and about how we don't build ther kingdom of God with our own hands, that 'progress' is obviously not true, witness the events in Paris.

Posted by Fr Weber (# 13472) on :

I added the collect, secret & post-communion for "In Time of War" to those of the day and of the saints. Sorry Ss Albert the Great & Machutus--you got bumped. See you next year.

In the intentions I bid prayers for peace and for the people of Paris & Beirut.

Posted by Cenobite (# 14853) on :

I began our worship with a moment's quiet for silent prayer.

I also did re-write my sermon in the light of the events of the week, and, like Baptist Trainfan, talked about why Paris affected us in this country more than the events in Beirut.

The main message of the sermon was about the importance of not allowing these horrific events to let us lose our humanity - our compassion, our tolerance, our love for our neighbour (neighbour in the widest sense, obviously) - and how this should show forth in our response as followers of the God of light and love.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
It was a little off-putting that nothing was said at the start of the service and we began the service with some relatively up-tempo sung worship.

That's interesting. I was living in London when the 7/7 attacks occurred and, as it happened, we had already planned a joint service with another Baptist church for the Sunday.

I wanted to rejig the whole service in the light of what had taken place (my wife had been caught up in the resulting chaos though not the attacks themselves); the pastor of the other church (a good friend of mine) wanted to carry on as we has planned, thereby making a declaration of our faith in God irrespective of events.

We did agree on a bit of a compromise in the end but I'm afraid I wasn't at all happy with his approach. YMMV.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

We began with that 'It is not Paris we should pray for. It is the world' thing which has been doing the rounds. Personally, I thought it struck the wrong note - better to have said 'let us pray for Paris, and let us also pray for the world', starting where people were, in grief and shock at what had happened to people they could identify with in a place they knew, and then to have sought to use that to make the leap of imaginative sympathy with people in under-reported parts of the world.As it is, I found that piece rather smugly sanctimonious.
The sermon, by a reader in training, had not been written with the atrocities in mind (or any of the readings either, it seemed) but the preacher's theme of seeking God in the familiar and the everyday, as he presented it, seemed quite apposite.

[ 16. November 2015, 20:39: Message edited by: Albertus ]

Posted by mr cheesy (# 3330) on :

Unusually the Dean walked straight to the lectern in silence (no choir, no organ) and said a few words about the events in France. There were a few moments of silence before the usual procession began and the choir entered.

We had the same reading, the Dean was talking about what "made" a building holy and mentioned Coventry Cathedral (which is a special place for me).

Hard to put a finger precisely on what was different, but there seemed to be an added element of the sombre compared to normal.

Posted by BroJames (# 9636) on :

We began with a minute's silence to remember in prayer the victims of the attacks in Paris, and those for whom such violence is a regular, even daily reality.

The service was a special service around St Martin (our pattern saint, whose day is 11 November), so the other point at which we reflected on the violence in Paris (and elsewhere) was in our prayers of intercession.

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
the pastor of the other church (a good friend of mine) wanted to carry on as we has planned, thereby making a declaration of our faith in God irrespective of events.

We did agree on a bit of a compromise in the end but I'm afraid I wasn't at all happy with his approach. YMMV.

I'm at odds with my local congregation on this. If you speak to the leaders afterwards, it's not as though they're ignorant of events. Their thinking is more along the lines of "shining a light in the darkness" but without actually acknowledging the darkness in the first place.

It turns out that being transformed by the renewal of your minds doesn't entail everyone thinking the same thing. Who knew‽

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I went to a different place on Sunday, so not sure what my shack did. The sermon mentioned the events in Paris and links were made to the readings of the day - 'wars and rumours of wars' seemed particularly relevant. I also found the Bairstow anthem 'Let all mortal flesh keep silence' very poignant and atmospheric in the circumstances.

Posted by Lincoln Imp (# 17123) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Yes - the C of E and RCC did indeed have different Gospels yesterday, but, in a way, both were relevant under the circumstances......

I.

It's Apocalyptic Season - slight variations, but the theme still stands.

We had a sermon entirely dedicated to Paris, Beirut & Baghdad and the need for prayer for the world. Even our pew sheet had a topical (apocalyptic) picture. We were also told that the Pope was the first to tweet, followed by the ABC. This is incorrect, since Francis came more than 24hrs after Justin - AND he has a lot of staff to do it for him. Methinks our priest may have got her loyalties wrong.

Posted by Tubbs (# 440) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
We began with that 'It is not Paris we should pray for. It is the world' thing which has been doing the rounds. Personally, I thought it struck the wrong note - better to have said 'let us pray for Paris, and let us also pray for the world', starting where people were, in grief and shock at what had happened to people they could identify with in a place they knew, and then to have sought to use that to make the leap of imaginative sympathy with people in under-reported parts of the world.As it is, I found that piece rather smugly sanctimonious.
The sermon, by a reader in training, had not been written with the atrocities in mind (or any of the readings either, it seemed) but the preacher's theme of seeking God in the familiar and the everyday, as he presented it, seemed quite apposite.

Rev T spoke about Paris, then led into "it's the not Paris we should pray for, it's the world" as an encouragement for people to widen their focus slightly and a candle was lit. He also spoke about the need not to give into hatred or fear. There is a large Muslim community and two Mosques in our village. We then prayed in small groups. It worked well for us.

Tubbs

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

Sounds like it might have worked better with that bit of introduction, then.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0