My family spent the last half of August on a great road trip on the West Coast. We flew in Los Angeles, CA and flew out of Portland, OR and had so many adventures in between. One that is particularly appropriate for this blog was our visit to St. Gregory of Nyssa's Episcopal Church in San Francisco.
I'd wanted to visit it for years, ever since taking a January term workshop with its two founders. During our class, they'd shared some of their philosophy about including lay leadership in worship, filling worship with color, art, music and movement, and getting rid of the book-juggling that can be so difficult by having everything we needed in one binder. Having attempted our own experiment with some of St. Gregory's practices, I was very interested to see it in person.
In some ways I was surprised by it. The church itself was smaller and less full than I'd imagined. And maybe not quite as user-friendly. People were friendly and welcoming, but we still weren't sure where to be at the start - we could have used a primer for newcomers about what to expect. But in most ways, it fulfilled my expectations and gave me a lot of fodder for liturgy planning.
We began around the altar with the choir leading beautiful chanting without any accompaniment other than some bells and drums. We then moved to our seats for the Liturgy of the Word. There was a fairly big silence after each reading (which made my husband nervous -- our kids are not so great at silence). Then the sermon was given by a seated priest who when she finished asked others to share their own reflections. The service embodied the liturgy's movement from the Word to the Table with an actual movement of people from the seats where scripture is read and discussed to the round atrium where we celebrate Eucharist in a circle around the altar. And not just walking - we were taught a very simple step so that we danced our way in. And it was WE that celebrated. There were priests at the Altar, but many of the words of our Eucharistic prayer (including the words of institution) were shared by the people. And then we were taught another simple step and we danced joyfully around the Altar during our last hymn. All while surrounded by "The Dancing Saints", a beautiful icon-style mural on the walls that depicts 100 or so very diverse people (including Anne Frank, Ghandi, Lady Godiva along with some of the more well-known and official saints of the Church) dancing with Jesus.
A very cool experience.
(I have a great video of the dancing, but it's too big to upload, I'm afraid. But the St. Gregory's website has some fun videos you can watch if you're interested!)
I'd wanted to visit it for years, ever since taking a January term workshop with its two founders. During our class, they'd shared some of their philosophy about including lay leadership in worship, filling worship with color, art, music and movement, and getting rid of the book-juggling that can be so difficult by having everything we needed in one binder. Having attempted our own experiment with some of St. Gregory's practices, I was very interested to see it in person.
In some ways I was surprised by it. The church itself was smaller and less full than I'd imagined. And maybe not quite as user-friendly. People were friendly and welcoming, but we still weren't sure where to be at the start - we could have used a primer for newcomers about what to expect. But in most ways, it fulfilled my expectations and gave me a lot of fodder for liturgy planning.
We began around the altar with the choir leading beautiful chanting without any accompaniment other than some bells and drums. We then moved to our seats for the Liturgy of the Word. There was a fairly big silence after each reading (which made my husband nervous -- our kids are not so great at silence). Then the sermon was given by a seated priest who when she finished asked others to share their own reflections. The service embodied the liturgy's movement from the Word to the Table with an actual movement of people from the seats where scripture is read and discussed to the round atrium where we celebrate Eucharist in a circle around the altar. And not just walking - we were taught a very simple step so that we danced our way in. And it was WE that celebrated. There were priests at the Altar, but many of the words of our Eucharistic prayer (including the words of institution) were shared by the people. And then we were taught another simple step and we danced joyfully around the Altar during our last hymn. All while surrounded by "The Dancing Saints", a beautiful icon-style mural on the walls that depicts 100 or so very diverse people (including Anne Frank, Ghandi, Lady Godiva along with some of the more well-known and official saints of the Church) dancing with Jesus.
A very cool experience.
(I have a great video of the dancing, but it's too big to upload, I'm afraid. But the St. Gregory's website has some fun videos you can watch if you're interested!)
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