Category: Underground church

24May

A Brief Celebration of Holy Communion

For those of you who come from traditions that permit the celebration of communion without a priest, we offer this virtual celebration of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. All baptized Christians are welcome to share with us in this holy mystery. A companion video will be coming shortly. We recommend coming to the table after a time of preparation, such as by listening to one of our “celebration of the word” files, or otherwise engaging in Bible reading, prayer, and confession.

  1. Hymn: “Jesus Paid it All” featuring Greg Kunde, Dean Peterson vocalists and Diane Bish, organ, from a uprogram entitled “The Name of Jesus”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  2. Welcome (Presbyterian):  “This is the Lord’s table. Our Savior invites those who trust him to share the feast which he has prepared.”
  3. Sursum Corda: excerpted from a church service at St. Barnabas Anglican Church, Ottawa Canada, 2012, in Community Audio section of Internet Archives.
  4. Sanctus: Mass for 4 voices, by William Byrd, performed by Ensemble Morales, used in accordance with Creative Commons License. Text: “Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”
  5. Words of institution: From 1 Corinthians 11
  6. Eucharistic prayer: from Holy Communion Bromley Parish Church 18th March 2020, uploaded to YouTube by James Harratt, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  7. The Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew, King.
  8. Agnus Dei: Mass for 4 voices, by William Byrd, performed by Ensemble Morales, used in accordance with Creative Commons License. Text: “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.  Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us your peace.”
  9. Anthem: Ave verum corpus, by William Byrd. Performed by Ars Mvsica; public domain at Archive.org.  English Translation: “Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary, having truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for mankind, from whose pierced side water and blood flowed: Be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet] in the trial of death! O sweet Jesus, O holy Jesus, O Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on me. Amen”
  10. Post-communion prayer: From a Lenten service Feb 14, 2016 at Saint James Church, Warrenton, VA, on YouTube, used according to Creative Commons License
  11. Musical Postlude: Bach, “I am Standing with One Foot in the Grave” BWV 156; Anonymous performance, public domain.
17May

A Celebration of the Word, for the Sixth Sunday of Easter 2020

This little audio file is offered for your edification, and to the glory of God.

Celebration for Easter 6
  1. Opening acclamation: Psalm 51:15
  2. Hymn: “Amazing Grace” for flute, Angela Brown, and organ, Diane Bish, from program entitled “Hymns and Sacred Songs”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  3. Lesson 1: Acts 17:22-31, World English Bible.
  4. Psalm 66:8-20, NET Bible, uploaded to YouTube by “dailyvideobible”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  5. Music: J. S. Bach: Cantata No. 207a: “O Praise the Lord Most Holy”, from a program by Diane Bish entitled “The Many Moods of Bach”, used in accordance with Creative Commons License.
  6. Lesson 2: 1 Peter 3:13-22 , World English Bible.
  7. Gospel: John 14:15-21, World English Bible.
  8. The Lord’s Prayer
  9. Organ postlude: J.S. Bach, “In Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend, BWV 632”, performed by Aldo Locatelli, in the public domain.
10May

A Celebration of the Word, for the Fifth Sunday of Easter 2020

These readings correspond to the Revised Common Lectionary. I offer this effort to God’s glory and for your enjoyment.

5th week of Easter 2020
  1. Opening acclamation.
  2. Hymn: “Crown him with many crowns” by unknown singers. Public Domain.  From Internet Archive.
  3. First Reading: Acts 7:55-60 (World English Bible).
  4. Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 (King James Version).
  5. Gloria Patri: Excerpted from an audio cassette of a choir festival in Evanston, IL, circa 1993.
  6. Second Reading:  1 Peter 2:2-10 (World English Bible).
  7. Gospel: John 14: 1-14.
  8. The Lord’s Prayer: Chanted by unknown congregation, uploaded to YouTube by “LabourerFaith”, and used in accordance with Creative Commons License.
  9. Blessing: The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6 (King James Version).
  10. Musical postlude: Charles-Marie Widor, Organ Symphony no. 5, Op. 42 no. 1, performer Paul Pittman, in the public domain.  At MusOpen.

I have put this audio file together from public domain sources, mainly LibriVox (for bible readings), MusOpen (for royalty Free Music) and the Community Audio section of the Internet Archives.

03May

A Celebration of the Word, for the Fourth Week of Easter 2020

This brief service of music and sacred scripture is offered in praise of God, and for the benefit of any who would like to worship in this manner.

  1. Opening acclamation and organ prelude: “I know that My Redeemer lives”, by Diane Bish, performing from St. Jacob’s Church, Prague, on a program entitled “Easter Alleluias”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  2. First Reading: Acts 2: 42-47, World English Bible.
  3. Psalm 23 “Brother James Air” by unknown artists, uploaded to YouTube by user “mk671tv”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  4. Second Reading: 1 Peter 2: 19-29, World English Bible.
  5. Gospel Reading: John 10: 1-10, World English Bible.
  6. Lord’s Prayer by Malotte: Sung by Kathleen Battle with harp by Nancy Allen, live for the visit of Pope Benedict to the U.S. 2009, uploated to youtube by “kinddude”, used in accordance with Creative Commons license.
  7. Closing prayer: Methodist, abbreviated.
  8. Postlude: Heut Triumphiret Gottes Sohn, BWV 630, performed by Aldo Locatelli.
23Mar

Forsaking the Assembling Together … But Finding New Ways to Connect

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, many churches have wrestled with measures to keep parishioners safe.  That churches provide no immunity from the virus is well illustrated by the case of a Georgian churchgoer named Clay Bentley, who sang in a 100 member choir at his church on March 1 and soon afterward developed symptoms of coughing and fever.  He was hospitalized with pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus.  Bentley told the Daily Mail that he’s heard that seven other people who were also in the choir are now in hospitals.

As the case load of infected people in the U.S. rises, state governors are calling for restrictions on all public gatherings.  Churches are heeding the call.  Unprecedented photos of empty pews and barren meeting houses have floated through the ether.  

Most churches have canceled all services, and moved to online formats such as live-streaming, Zoom, and webcasts.  Members have stayed in touch by connecting on Facebook, or by meeting only in small groups. Some churches have persisted in holding services, with modifications such as forgoing a communion cup. 

Borrowing from restaurants, some churches have offered “drive through” sacraments.  One example is the St. Andrew Apostle School in Silver Spring, Maryland, as reported by Catholic Philly. Father Leary is quoted:

“There’s a very beautiful paradox taking place. There’s a contradiction in people’s lives in the fact that they’re starting to realize what they don’t have. The absence is creating a longing for presence. What God is allowing is this divine encounter of love. He’s turning the hearts and eyes of the people back to Him.”

Others are similarly optimistic. Roxie Floyd of the Wilson Temple in Raleigh, NC, is quoted by Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: “Jim Crow didn’t stop our church, the 60s didn’t stop our church, race riots didn’t stop our church, lynching didn’t stop our church,” she said. “It gives you a strength and hardening of character to weather storms, that we will persevere through the worst times and come out on the other side stronger.”


21Oct

More on the “7 Big Questions”

In fact, before I became aware of the “Explore God” project, I had written the following rough draft for the section of the “Underground Church” website called “Christianity: An Introduction for the Curious and Perplexed”:

Christianity: An Introduction for the Curious and the Perplexed

You may be scratching your head as to why–in the technologically advanced age in which we live–do people still bother about invisible deities controlling things behind the scenes. You may wonder what’s all the fuss over a guy who was executed in a Roman outpost, Jerusalem, in the year 33. If so, read on.

Many of life’s most perplexing questions cannot be answered by science. I speak here of the “Big Questions”–such as “why are we here?”, “are we alone?” or “what is the meaning of life?” or “why should I choose this action over that one?” These are thorny questions, and try as we might we can’t really think our way through to all the answers. There are facets of our lives that Science is mute to address. That has led some to denigrate the questions, and denigrate those who ask them. “Manliest men don’t need those answers. They are weak minds who seek such things.” It may well be that these questions cannot be answered. Christians believe that they can be approached, but not by techniques and methods designed to measure the physical world.

How can we know anything?

Why are we here? Where do we come from?

Why is there evil and injustice all around me?

Are we alone? Does anyone care about humanity?

Who was Jesus?

Is this life all there is? What happens when I die?

Does my life today have a higher purpose, or meaning?

I initially had the idea of introducing potential inquirers to Christianity using this questions-based approach. Sort of “welcome to Christianity–we believe we have answers to some of life’s toughest questions”. (In fact, this is close to my earliest discarded wording).

Ultimately I set the material aside for the current essay which begins with the central mystery of Christianity, namely the Resurrection accounts. I made the change for several reasons. One is that we already have a “Q and A” section, and so this kind of approach seemed a bit redundant. Also, it became obvious that despite my efforts at brevity, an essay that incorporated all of this material, and did these questions any kind of justice, would by necessity have become quite long and unwieldy. Also, I felt that people would be more likely to want to read such an essay from a personal, subjective approach–I thought about reworking this into a different essay called “my own path to faith”. That may still come at some point. Stay tuned.

13Jan

Underground church

Since this blog is attached to a website called “the underground church”, it is only fitting to reference an article related to this idea.

Recently–well, in 2011–an article was circulated indicating an idea that soon “real” Christians will begin withdrawing into secrecy. From an article in Christianity Today: “Christian churches in America will soon be forced to go underground if they want to stay true to their beliefs and to God, a conservative broadcast commentator warned.”

He decries the existing public churches as having abandoned their true mission: “Their pastors ‘preach’ feel good ‘sermonettes’ about the environment and things like ‘social justice.’ In my opinion, that is not the mission of a church that purports to follow Christ. In fact, Christ, Himself, spelled out the mission of the church in what we refer to as The Great Commission.” … “That commission from Christ is the sole reason why the church exists today, Longstreet stressed.”

Is this paranoid, or prophetic?

Read it all: http://www.christianpost.com/news/real-christian-churches-in-us-forced-to-go-underground-soon-64235/