by Rev. Malcolm G. Smith
We’re going to try something new on August 2nd: Summer Family Worship at 9:30 am in the cathedral nave. This will be in place of Young Children’s Service, Family Service, and Informal Family Service on that day. Adult Service will still take place, as usual, at 11:00 am.
Here are a few reasons why we’re giving this a try. We’ve talked for some years about whether we should try a Community Worship Service in the summer. Our conclusion is that, during the summer, it would be hard to find the staff and volunteers to do it well — particularly the children’s program. But it would still be nice to get the whole community together for a worship service, at least once in the summer.
Another part of this is practical: it can sometimes be hard to find staff and volunteers to cover all four services, every week, during the summer. Reducing the number of services we offer on a Sunday reduces the number of people needed on duty and means that we can pool our resources in one service and location rather than spreading them across the undercroft, nave, and Asplundh Assembly Hall.
We’re still fine-tuning the details, but it might end up feeling the most like a slightly-longer Young Children’s Service in the nave. The talk will be aimed to a bit younger audience than a typical Family Service and the whole service will be about 20 minutes in length. After the service, there will be plenty of time for eating refreshments and socializing. We invite the people coming for Adult Service that day to come early and be part of that fellowship time.
For those that would like more adult content, we invite you to consider attending Adult Service that day (as a standalone or as a double-header), and we will also have printed copies of the adult sermon available for people to take home after the 9:30 am service.
There is a chance that this service will end up feeling a little bit annoying to everyone. (There are reasons why we offer multiple styles of worship most Sundays.) In that case, we will learn from our experience. Or it might be that people will find the small annoyances totally worth it for the chance to worship together at least once during the summer.
If you have questions or suggestions about this, please send me an email (malcolm.smith@brynathynchurch.org). I would also particularly value your feedback after we’ve given it a try. Thanks!