Whatever happened to that survey?

Thanks to all those who filled out the survey on worship in November!  We received 38 responses and many interesting comments. If it seems like not much is changing as a result of the survey, that’s for several reasons that I want to explore in this blog post.

First of all, a few things are already changing.  We heard loud and clear that folks wanted the introductions to the scripture readings to be clearer and more consistent, and that they were dissatisfied with the announcements. We are working with the readers on the first item, and as far as the second goes, for the season of Advent we are trying out having the announcements at the beginning of the service, just after the opening hymn. We learned this past Sunday that we need to make sure there is a functioning microphone for the person giving them, but other than that, it seems to have worked well.  We welcome and appreciate feedback!

Second, other changes will be longer in coming mostly because there was much less consensus.  People have a lot of opinions and a lot of them contradict each other! It would be impossible – not to mention neither wise nor helpful – to change everything that folks have expressed a wish to be changed.

And finally, the survey has revealed that there is room for formation (there’s that word again!) when it comes to our worship traditions.  While some of us are lifelong Anglicans, others are new to this branch of the church (or to church at all!), and all of us have different understandings of what worship is and should be. It seems that the time is ripe to plan some sessions where we can gather, learn, share our experiences, and come to a better common understanding of the tradition to which we belong and why we do what we do in worship.  Stay tuned for details!