Narrated Worship
In worship, Ethos Group and Mother Katy helped us to understand the different parts of Worship and what each part means.
Worship is a really important part of our school life together. It is an enjoyable now time that offers peace, reverence, reflection and stillness, with opportunities to experience joy, awe and wonder in God’s presence. It is a time to come together and reflect on ‘big’ questions and issues going on in the world around us, thinking about how we can make the world a better and fairer place. It is a time of celebrating the wow times in our lives and also a time of support with the ow times.
In our worship we do five things:
First, we gather together
Then we engage in the main content of our worship
Thirdly, we respond to what we have heard, usually by singing a hymn
Fourthly, we reflect on what we have heard,
Finally, we are sent out to put it into action.
The Gathering
As we gather together for worship, it is important that the right atmosphere is created. An atmosphere that says this is a special time when we all come together. An atmosphere that says this is a time to be reverent and respectful. An atmosphere that says this is an opportunity at the start of our day, before we get into all the busy-ness of our work, to be still in God’s presence.
To help create that atmosphere, we have some quiet, reflective music playing as we come into the hall. The music is often linked to the Christian value or to our school vision. We come in reverently and respectfully.
Each side of our altar is a different colour – the same colours that are used on the altar in church.
Lent and Advent is purple
Christmas and Easter will be white
Pentecost is red
Ordinary time is green
The cross reminds us of Jesus who died on the cross.
We light the candle at the start of worship. For Christians, candles are a reminder of Jesus who said he is the light of the world. When we light our candle we are reminded that Jesus is here with is now. Lighting the candle also indicates that our worship has begun.
During the gathering we have acolytes who help to lead the worship and say the greeting. First, we say together that we are meeting in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – three persons yet still one God. This is called the Trinity. If we want to, we can also make the sign of the cross on our bodies as we say it, like this …
We meet in the name of God.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, God is One.
The clergy continues with the greeting.
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Engaging
This is the main part of the worship.
Everything we do in our worship relates back to our school vision of loving one another as Jesus has loved us. Our core value is love: love God, love ourselves and love one another, and under each of those, we have our Christian values which help us think about how God wants us to live and what sort of people God wants us to be.
We will often have a Bible story in this part of our worship. It might be read by our acolytes, or the person leading our worship might tell us the story. Sometimes it might be acted out, or there might be actions for us all to join in with. However, we hear the story, it’s always good to think about which part of the Big Story it comes from.
As well as a Bible story there may be a video, or a picture, or an artefact, or a question. Something to help us think and grow and explore what the Christian faith, through our Christian values, has to say to us about we live in today’s world.
Responding
Next, we respond to what we have heard and thought about. Sometimes, we might be asked to share our ideas and our responses with everyone. Other times we might just think to ourselves and respond in our heads. But we always also respond together by singing a hymn.
Reflecting
After the hymn, we have a short time of reflection. We might be asked some questions to help us reflect, as we think about what difference the things we have heard about in our worship today will make to how we live our lives.
So if we have heard about how God always forgives us, we might be inspired to forgive someone who has hurt us, or to ask for forgiveness from God or from other people for something we have done wrong.
If we have heard about how the Bible tells us to always be thankful, we might be inspired to make an extra effort in our day to be grateful for the things we have, rather than grumbling about the things we don’t have.
If we have heard about the responsibility God gave to human beings to care for creation, we might be inspired to go and do something to better care for the world.
If we have heard about how important justice is to God, we might be inspired to go and make a difference in the world, challenging injustice in whatever way we can.
Once we have had a few moments of quiet reflection, the person leading our worship will draw our time of reflection together by saying a prayer. We will be invited to make it our prayer too, if we want to, by saying Amen at the end. And then we are invited to pray the Lord’s Prayer together.
Sending out
When our worship is led by Mother Katy or Father Paul, they then take a Big Question from the box and try to answer it – although sometimes their answer is ‘I don’t know!’
When the clergy lead worship we are sent out by receiving God’s blessing.
They repeat the ‘The Lord be with you’ greeting from the start of our worship and then give us God’s blessing.
When the priest gives God’s blessing they make a cross in the air with their hands. We don’t copy that, but we can, if we want to, make the sign of the cross on our bodies again like we did at the start of our worship.
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
May the God of love strengthen and equip you
that you may love God, love yourself and love one another
as Jesus has loved you.
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
To end our worship we remind ourselves together of our school vision and our commitment to love God, love ourselves and love one another.
Go and love one another as Jesus has loved us:
Love God;
Love ourselves;
Love one another.
As the music plays, we then go from our worship back to our classrooms, as quietly, and reverently as we came in. As we go, we go changed by our worship. We go inspired to be better people and to make a difference in the world. We go to love one another as Jesus
has loved us.
As we go, the candle is extinguished as a sign that our worship is finished
This is what some of our pupils and staff said following the worship:
I learned that when the candle is lit, Christians believe it shows Jesus is here with us in the room.
I learned that when we meet 'In the name of God...' that this is an ancient saying that has been used for hundreds of years.
I learned that our worships offer peace, reverence , reflection and stillness and give us space to think about how we can make the world a better place. -
I know that when the colours change on the altar it shows difference times of the church seasons - green is for ordinary time
I liked doing prayer and saying the words “God the father, God the Son.” I had forgot about the actions so that helped me and I will do those in worship.
I noticed the candle and when it was lit and Mother Katy told us about it. It made me feel calm. I will look out for that being lit in worship now.
I will look at the Big Picture more to help me when we are listening to stories.
Being respectful is going into worship by being quiet and listening. We need to listen as important things are said.
It helped me know more about the different parts of worship and what happens. I will know more for the next worship now.
I enjoy the Big Questions in worship because me it makes me listen what others are thinking about God.
Some people have different questions to me or they ask a question that I have too. It helps me think more about what I might want to ask.
I know to look at the Big Story to help me understand where the stories fit in. Mother Katy helps us with this and then we know more about what the story means.
My favourite part of worship is singing because it makes me feel happier and the sounds make me feel good inside when we are all singing together. I like the hymns we have at St Marys.
I feel more comfortable knowing what’s going to happen in worship.
It makes me feel like part of a family being worship together.
The pupils are remarkably good in Worship they are exceptional at being reverent.
I had never heard of acolytes until I came to St Mary’s, it helps to involve pupils in the act of worship
I had not noticed until today the different colours on the altar cloth and how they fit with the church seasons.