A Service of the Word
Not a service so much as a set of rules for building one. Which is exactly what makes it useful, and exactly what makes it hard to print.
A Service of the Word is unusual among Common Worship provisions: it gives almost no text. What it gives is a structure and a set of requirements, inside which a parish builds its own service. That is why informal, all-age, café-church and locally shaped services are almost all Services of the Word, whether or not anyone calls them that.
What it requires
- Preparation — a greeting, and authorised prayers of penitence where they are used.
- The Liturgy of the Word — readings from scripture, and a sermon or other exposition. This is not optional; a service of the word without the word is not one.
- An authorised creed or affirmation of faith at the principal service on a Sunday.
- Prayers — including intercession and the Lord’s Prayer.
- A conclusion.
What it leaves open
Very nearly everything else: the wording, the order within the sections, the songs, the number of readings, who leads which part, whether there is a dramatised reading or a discussion or a craft activity. The latitude is deliberate and it is broad.
Keeping it printable
- Fix the skeleton even though you need not. Decide the order of the five sections and keep it. The congregation should recognise the shape even when the content is new.
- Keep the congregational words stable. If the gathering response changes weekly, nobody learns it, and everybody reads rather than prays.
- Put the variable parts in one place — the middle — rather than scattered through, so the weekly edit is one region of the document.
- Print the rubrics. In an unfamiliar service, all sit is doing more work than any other line on the page.
If your parish alternates a Service of the Word with a eucharist, keep the parts they share — the confession, the creed, the Lord’s Prayer — identically worded in both booklets. Two versions of the confession in one parish is a small thing that quietly costs a congregation its confidence.
Questions
What is A Service of the Word?
A Common Worship provision that gives a structure and a set of requirements rather than a fixed text: preparation, the liturgy of the word with readings and a sermon, an authorised creed or affirmation of faith, prayers including the Lord's Prayer, and a conclusion. Everything else is locally decided.
Does A Service of the Word need a creed?
At the principal service on a Sunday, an authorised creed or affirmation of faith is required. Elsewhere there is more latitude.