|
As I shared in last week’s newsletter and last night’s Ash Wednesday service, we will be focusing on the Good News of Jesus this Lent. In addition, to make our Lenten services feel a bit different than our “normal” worship, we will be adding two other elements: cantoring of the Psalm reading and reading the gospel among the people.
The first practice you’re familiar with, as we have used this method of reading scripture in our worship before and recently. Debi will be our Cantor, singing a line, and we will respond congregationally with a response that is printed in the Order of Worship. Reading the Gospel among the people might be less familiar. I have only experienced it at Northside Drive in Atlanta, where I was a member during seminary, and the only other Baptist church I’m aware of more liturgical than us!
This practice is exactly what it sounds like - the person reading moves from the altar or chancel to stand among the congregation and read that day's verses. They’re sometimes accompanied by an acolyte holding the Bible or, as we will do it, someone carrying the Christ candle to emphasize the presence of Christ in the midst of his people. The idea being that the Gospel isn’t just read, it’s proclaimed as the presence of Christ in the World as the congregation stands to show reverence.
As a staff, our hope in including these elements is to make these weeks of Lent special and, as I said, to help these worship services feel a bit different because Lent itself is different. It asks different things of us than does the rest of the church calendar: penitence, self-reflection, a quietness of self to listen for God.
I look forward to worshiping with you in the coming weeks as we journey through Lent and toward Easter.
-Jillian
| 
