Liturgy

Simple Church is a Eucharistic Community, which means that our dinner worship is built around the Eucharist ceremony. The service is intended to be a radically participatory act of thanksgiving where we recognize our unity in Christ and the gift of creation through communal acts of worship, conversation, and eating good locally grown food. Book-ending the the service with communion (Bread at the beginning and wine at the end) was inspired by the Eucharistic ceremony at St. Lydia’s in Brooklyn. We couldn’t have done it without their vision!

Below is our “liturgy” - the framework for our community’s worship life. Use what works. Drop what doesn’t. Tell us what you do differently, because we want to learn from you.

We meet on Thursday nights starting at about 6:30 using rented or borrowed space. We don’t use a bulletin and we try to use no paper at all during our service to keep our environmental impact low.

Pre-Worship Set Up

The community works together to set up the worship space and prepare the food. One piece of wisdom is to set up the food potluck style with a serving table at the front. Stack plates, cloth napkins, and bowls on the serving table and place chairs in a semicircle around the tables. I’ve found that if I set 30 places we’ll have 20 people and it will feel like no one showed. If I place for 15 we’ll have 40 and it will feel rushed and unprepared. Let people set their own place and your worship space will be “right sized”. One member arrives at least an hour early to cook the soup.

The checklist for getting our worship space ready is:

Around 5:30

Set up 3 tables and place table clothes on table (a fourth or fifth table can be added) Put pitchers of water on tablePut 6 empty glasses on tablePut candles on table

Put mason jar with with silverware on table (6 spoons and 6 forks)Place chairs in a semi circle around the tablesPlace 25 plates and bowls on the food serving tables with the cloth napkins in a basket Plug in Christmas lights and place around the room

Around 6:15

Light candlesTurn on “House Music” as people begin to show up (something calming and folksy)

The Body

The first half of the liturgy is dedicated to the bread - the body of Christ. We begin by gathering in a circle and singing This Little Light of Mine. We recognize Christ’s presence signified by the candles at our table. While we sing we grab a chair from the semi- circle and place it at our seat at the table.

As the song ends, gather back into the circle and invite the community to “Name the Space.” We don’t take the space for granted but name it into being through our words and intentions.

For example we can name the space:Light, friends, nonjudgmental, welcoming, ect. The leader is sure to end it by saying that the space is one of respectful participation, where all are welcome.

Next we take a moment for some guided breathing - placing ourselves firmly in the moment and recognizing that the breath we breathe is the same is same as our neighbor, and even the air we breathe is a gift from God.

Then we enter into a time of communal prayer. Prayers are lifted with the supplicant saying, “Lord in your mercy,” and entire community saying “Hear our prayer.”

After the prayers, we participate in the first half of the communion ritual saying something to the effect of,

“We gather tonight on a Thursday night, to remember another dinner that happened on another Thursday 2,000 years ago. The way the story goes, before the supper began Jesus took bread. He raised it up. He gave thanks for it. And he passed it to each of his disciples saying, “Take. Eat. This is my body broken for you. As often as you eat of it remember me.”

So we in the same way, take this bread, that just a few hours ago was made up of many different parts - flour, water, salt, sugar, yeast - but is now magically one loaf, and we recognize that we, who in the same way were many, are now one in the body of Christ through the breaking of this bread.”

Invite the circle to take the bread and pass it to their neighbor saying, “This is my body, this is our body.”

We raise the bread up together and the leader says “We who were many but are now one in the breaking of bread together say thanks.” The community says, “Thanks.”

We eat the bread together.

The Food - Now the fun part. Ask the Food Coordinator to announce what’s in the soup this week. Invite people to grab a bowl and plate and help themselves.

Turn on house music.

Proclamation of the Word

Once everyone is seated. I read a selection from the Bible ending with “The Word of God for the people of God.” and everyone echoes, “Thanks be to God.”

Then I give a four minute talk designed to get conversations rolling. This isn’t the sermon any more than yeast is bread. It’s something that gets conversations going around the table. The true sermon, the true proclamation of the word, should come from these discussions around the table. Provide 2-3 discussion questions to get things rolling. This should last 20-30 minutes depending on timing.

Song

Sing three to four folk songs that the community knows well. If you introduce a new song, be sure to do it in the middle of two well known songs so people don’t feel defeated! (Be sure to check out our songbook after this section.)

The Cup

As the story goes, after the supper was over Jesus took the cup. This is the time when we reflect on Christ’s sacrifice. The presider invites the community to recommit to following Christ as we pass the cup to one another saying - “The cup of forgiveness.”

We raise the cup together in a toast and say “Thanks.” We drink together.

The service ends with silent prayer and the presider says, “For the food that we ate, for the conversations we had, and for the songs we sang together we say thanks,” the congregation says “thanks,” “And until we meet again we ask that Christ be our constant companion in all that we do, Amen.”

Post Worship Cleanup

Cleanup is a big job, so we do it together. Many hands make light work! After the service is done, invite people to donate their time and money by buying eggs, buying or baking bread.

After that get two volunteers to wash dishes (someone who didn’t do it last week) and two to dry dishes. We buy in big to the principle of community reciprocity, which is a fancy way of saying that you aren’t really part of a community until you have a job. Hand someone a broom and ask them to help clean up!

Pancake Church Liturgy

Pancake Church is our Sunday morning worship designed specifically for families with small children. We meet late on Thursday nights and we realized that there were lots of families that wanted to be a part of Simple Church but it was too late for their kids. So we translated our service of the Eucharist into pancakes, adapted simple songs, hired a couple babysitters and created a worship service that is best parts play group, discussion group, brunch, Sunday School, and worship service. This group is not open to the public, but is rsvp only. I invited ten families to be a part of our first group, and anecdotal evidence points to that translating into four families that show up each week - which is the perfect size for meeting in someone’s home. Anything bigger is too big

7:00 am

Pre portion out pancake ingredients (See recipe later) Set tables, lay out toys for kids

8:00 am

Gather families in a circle and sing God our Father/Mother Mix pancakes with kids. I use a big Kitchenaide stand mixer and give a reflection in kid terms about the different ingredients coming together and changing into something better. Flour, milk, salt, baking soda, butter, sugar, and eggs transform into the batter and the ingredients are better together than separate.

8:30

Let the kiddos eat their pancakes. Bring sprinkles, chocolate, and syrup! Let them decorate their breakfast!

9:00

Kids go play and parents have a discussion over a text led by a different person each week. Do roses and thorns - talk about the high point and low point of the week - and check in with each other on how we can be supportive. 9:30 Gather kids back together, sing some songs, pray and clean up!