Behind the Scenes - Worshipping

The Parish Church of St James
St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

RUNNING THE CHURCH
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If there is one thing that a church building is for, it is worship. Ever since the Church began Christians have worshipped together. The way they worship will vary due to time, place, language, and so on.

Regardless of this, it is the same God who is worshipped. When we worship we give God what is due to him – our praise and thanks.

As worship is so important, in preparing for a service in church we take time and trouble over it. Nothing is left to chance. The planning and structure can then leave us free to pray, and to worship.

Servers are responsible for ensuring a service runs smoothly. They prepare the sanctuary and altar table, ensure there are enough communion wafers available, check that the cruets hold sufficient water and wine, open the lectern Bible at the appropriate readings and check that the sound system is working. After the service they dismantle the altar and wash the chalices and paten.

There is a rota of servers who are needed every Sunday at both the 8am and 9.30am services.

• See our Servers page which includes details of contacts.

Preparing the altar

Practising

Music in church tends to be very visible - certainly audible! What you see and hear during a service though is the tip of quite a large iceberg with nine tenths of the work having already happened in advance, usually weeks or months beforehand.

The vicar will have chosen the hymns and the organist, will have chosen and practised the music to be played at various points in that particular service. The music is carefully chosen to fit with the liturgical theme of each service.

The organist also makes sure that the organ is maintained and tuned. The anthems to be sung by the choir are also chosen with the service themes in mind. The organist suggests anthems for two or three months ahead and these are considered by the worship and music committee. They are rehearsed during the weekly Friday evening or Sunday morning choir practices. Choir members show a good deal of regular commitment, especially on cold, wet winter evenings, or equally on warm, sunny summer ones!

The children’s choir sings in several services a year. Susannah Nettleton contacts the children and their parents, chooses the music and runs the practices that lead up to the service.

On the first Sunday of the month, you may arrive early enough to hear the St. James’s Players practising for the service. All the hymns and other music have been arranged for the orchestra by their conductor, Martin Hinckley, with the parts created on computer and uploaded to the church website. Members of the orchestra are emailed details about their next service so they can print off and practise any new pieces.

• See our Music pages which include details of contacts.

Readings
At most services the Gospel is read by the clergy or one of the servers and the other two readings by volunteers.

There is a quarterly rota so readers usually know well in advance what their passage is going to be and have plenty of time to check out the pronunciation of strange names and practise their reading at home or in church.

Preparation

With enough people on the rota it is not always necessary for everyone to read every quarter.

• See our Readings pages which include details of contacts.

Intercession rota

Intercessions
It is not easy to condense the needs of the church, the world and the local community into five minutes of formal intercession which will harmonise with the theme of the collect and readings. It is not easy to read such prayers in a way that will move beyond performance into a genuine act of collective prayer. It requires preparation - thought, prayer and practice. But not necessarily great creativity!

Although some people write original intercessions, most either draw on books of prayers or use the format with which we are all familiar.

Sound System
And finally - not so much behind the scenes as behind our backs - there is the sound system manager to adjust the microphones to suit the varying voices of readers, intercessor and president.

Further Information
	Contact the Parish Office 020 8941 6003 or go to the individual pages named above

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