Community Worship Services – Bryn Athyn Church

An opportunity for the whole community to come together once a month to worship the Lord.

The Next Service is Sunday, November 3, 2024, 10:00 am at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral

Rev. Malcolm Smith – "Prepared"

Have you ever felt well-prepared for something? It feels good to feel like we have the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual resources to handle a particular situation. Something comes up and we have what we need to respond appropriately. Great! Are you feeling prepared for the election next week and whatever happens after it? As we gather as a community to worship the Lord together (even as we will not all be voting for the same candidates), what would it look like for each of us to be better prepared by our Heavenly Father? The Lord can make a difference in our individual lives and in our community by preparing our hearts for these times of contention, stress, and fear for the future. Let’s talk about how.

NOTE: There will be no Informal, Young Children's, Family, or Adult Service on this date.

Music

The Cathedral Choir will be singing a choral arrangement of "Ancient Words" by Michael W. Smith as the last prelude before the service starts. Try to arrive a little bit early if you'd like to hear that. The Chorale class from Bryn Athyn College will be leading the hymns and singing a few pieces of special music for the service. Watch a clip from one of their rehearsals on Facebook or Instagram.

One of the hymns we will sing this Sunday is "This is My Father's World". If you'd like to learn that hymn or one of the harmony parts for it, check out this playlist.

Note

There will be no Informal, Young Children's, Family, or Adult Service on this date. Refreshments will be served following the service. Children's activities will take place during the adult portion of the service. Children 5 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Zoom Discussion

Please join us on Zoom for an online small-group discussion of this Sunday’s Community Worship Service. This discussion is hosted by the team that regularly meets on Sundays to discuss the Informal Family Service. Feel free to join this meeting at any time between 11:30 and 12:30 on Sunday. All are welcome.
Join the meeting or use meeting ID: 88119217055.

About Community Worship Services

There's just one service.
The service starts at 10:00 am. You might want to come a bit earlier to find parking and a seat.
After the opening part of the service the children will be invited to come and sit in the front for a children's talk.
After that the children will go to the south end of the building to choose from a variety of supervised children's activities including listening to a story, doing crafts, playing with toys, playing with balls outside, or going on a scavenger hunt (more details below).
If your child is 5 or older, you can leave them in the Council Chamber and rejoin the service for the adult portion. You can drop them off or they can go on their own but please ask your children to wait for you to collect them at the end of the service.
If your child is younger than 5, they can participate in the activities if you (or another responsible family member) stay with them.
After the service, please collect your children from the Council Chamber and join us for refreshments in the Social Hall, outside the cloister, or by the porte cochère. The refreshments are great at Community Worship Services.

Upcoming Community Worship Service Dates

Check out the Community Calendar for more on upcoming services and events.

How to Get Involved

This service will have many opportunities to get involved in helping to make it a rich community worship experience. Here are some of the areas we will need help with:

Greeters – helping people find what they are looking for
Refreshment contributions, set-up and clean-up
Supervisors and assistants for children’s’ activity “stations” – mixed ages
Art/craft projects leadership, set-up and clean-up
Discussion leaders
Families to help with chancel set-up, ushering, etc.

Please contact Nina at nina.dewees@brynathynchurch.org or 215-947-6225 ext.206 to learn more and describe where you would most like to volunteer.

We look forward to how this new church service will blossom into worship that will serve many people together.