Daily worship

We have worship twice a day. Usually worship is at 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. The schedule for morning worship is different on Fridays and Sundays, being earlier on Friday for the departing guests and later on Sunday to accommodate as many people as possible. Each day’s worship has a theme which coincides with the rhythm of the week. For example, Sunday evening worship is quiet space, Tuesday is creative space, Thursday night and Sunday morning includes a communion service, Friday morning service is a leaving service while Saturday evening’s service is a gathering service.
Worship is led by a member of the community, either a resident or a volunteer. We are offered a signup sheet each Friday morning, and can ask to lead, read play an instrument or sing. Because of the way volunteers come and go, you are usually here a couple of weeks before there is an opening so you can get the feel of how worship flows. The community assists by providing you with a guide sheet along with everything that you should say. The morning services are fairly routine with little deviation, while the evening services are more adaptive and expansive. Sunday morning and evening worship is also affected by the Member in residence for the week. Last week we had a member present who leads music at a large church in Sheffield. All music last week was new and creative.
The only service that there is a prepared sermon is Sunday morning, and the sermon is offered by one of the Members of the community who is present to lead the week’s program. Two weeks ago the program was on interfaith work and the sermon was offered by the speaker for the week. This week we are focusing on reconciliation and justice. Our sermon on Sunday was offered by one of the leaders of the reconciliation movement in Northern Ireland. Each week the theme and focus changes which impacts the content of the sermon.
We use the Iona Community worship book, and use the Lord’s Prayer in each service. During the morning worship we say an older version of the Lord’s Prayer, complete with forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. We all recite it together, generally reading from the worship book. But at night, at night we are asked to repeat the Lord’s Prayer according to our own tradition and in our native language. You can’t imagine the power contained in hearing all those voices, repeating slightly different words with similar context. It is powerful.
This is a thin place.