Ever since we started the Saturday evening Eucharist, we've used an abbreviated order of service, thinking that the smaller number of people would have difficulty in sustaining a fully sung Eucharist. But we've had, over the years, several folks complain about the meagre opportunities to sing at that liturgy. Tonight we changed all that. Full Eucharist, right out of the Service Book, no cuts anywhere. And out of the blue we had 60+ people in attendance tonight - and that's GREAT for us on Saturday evening. Service ran about ten minutes longer than it would without singing the whole liturgy, but I didn't hear a soul complaining as they left. A nice change, a good one.
Bill, you mentioned "right out of the Service Book." Do you already have LSB "installed" at St. Paul, or were you just speaking generically?
ReplyDeleteActually, I was speaking generically.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Saturday night Eucharist just once a month, and I have always used the full service (and sometimes we only have about 15 people). I was told that the previous pastor would skip all kinds of stuff, but I do not. One guy even told me he liked it that I don't skip parts of it.
ReplyDeleteMost of the Romanist churches around here have 4 or 4:30 Eucharist every Saturday, and they are packed for that service. I sometimes wonder if we ought to offer it around the same time every week, if we would get the same "results." Hmmn....
I was interested in starting the Saturday Eucharist because we had so many young people that couldn't make the Sunday services, being scheduled for work. But Saturday tends to draw a rather diverse crowd. Sometimes folks come Saturday and return for the services on Sunday. I love to see hunger for the Eucharist like that!
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