Posts Tagged ‘worship’

Can chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?

Monday, July 24th, 2023
chatbots

When several hundred Lutherans in Bavaria, Germany, attended a service on June 9, 2023, designed by ChatGPT, the program not only selected hymns and prayers, but also composed and delivered a sermon, delivered by an avatar on a big screen. Indeed, programs like ChatGPT, that can produce a sermon in seconds, might seem attractive to Read more

Taking responsibility for health is not at odds with worship

Monday, November 1st, 2021
vaccine mandates and church

A great deal has been heard of late about the use of vaccine mandates to control who can and cannot work in various organisations, from hospitals to schools, and who will or will not be allowed to attend concerts and sporting fixtures. In the midst of what can be a confusing scene, the leaders of Read more

What worship really is

Thursday, October 31st, 2019
worship

For years the church talked a lot about the holiness of God and the righteousness of God, and for years the church told us we should have the fear of God. When you walked into a church sanctuary, there was a reverent tone. But then there was a swing in the other direction. Of course, Read more

Find Mass boring? Good!

Monday, March 20th, 2017

Praying through the tedium at Mass can be a more authentic way of sharing the divine life. As citizens of late modern life, we seek to avoid boredom. We alleviate the stillness of a quiet moment by turning to our smartphones. We delight in the arrival of new emails, fresh stories and notifications from social Read more

You can be as loud as you like at this Church service

Friday, October 21st, 2016
loud

It’s often said Church is a place of solitude, reflection and silence. But that’s not the case at Joyful Ministries – a monthly church service and social group with activities for people with intellectual disabilities in Hamilton. Church goers are encouraged to express themselves by singing and being as loud as they please. Organiser Jeni Read more

Be warm to attract young people to your church. Not cool.

Friday, September 9th, 2016

So many churches pour money and energy into flashy worship services meant to make teenagers and young adults think that church is cool. But it turns out cool isn’t what young people want. Forget the rock-band vibe and the flashing lights. Warm is the new cool. For our book “Growing Young,” we researched more than Read more

Fears new UK bill could ban use of incense in church

Friday, September 25th, 2015

Church authorities fear that a new Psychoactive Substances Bill in Britain could lead to the banning of the use of incense in church worship. The bill as it currently stands is worded so broadly that the use of incense in worship would be an unwitting casualty of the new legislation. The Churches’ Legislation Advisory Service, Read more

Worship prefect wants extraordinary form parts in Roman Missal

Tuesday, June 16th, 2015

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship has suggested an appendix to the Roman Missal contain parts of the extraordinary form of the Mass. In an article in L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Robert Sarah stated that the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy should not be read with a “hermeneutic of rupture”. “It would be wrong Read more

Seven trends in service worship times

Friday, May 29th, 2015

If your church has one service at 11:00 am on Sunday mornings, it is likely in the minority. In a recent reader survey we conducted with 1,649 responses, slightly over half of the congregations had only one worship service on Sunday morning, and the times of that single service varied. The “sacred hour” of 11:00 Read more

The Way of Holy Week

Tuesday, April 15th, 2014

We are people of the Way, an ancient term for the first Christians which is found in the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus showed us that way throughout his whole life on earth, but this way becomes particularly clear and calls to us most profoundly in the events of Holy Week, not only by Jesus’s Read more