Most of my expecting more posts have been about how I would organize organize services to encourage deeper participation by those of us in the pews. This post however is only partly about that. It is also addresses, the Friday fast and the Sacrament of Confession.
As to the services on Friday, Morning Prayer if held, ought to include both the confession of sin and the Great Litany. The Penitential Office with Great Litany ought to be held in the evening before Evening Prayer.
On the First Friday of the month Morning and Evening Prayer ought to be followed by the office for the dead.
Regarding the fast, it seems to me that one of the best ways to expand the church into our daily life is to restore the ancient pattern of feast and fast. Not as a way to earn brownie points with God, but as a way to weave our lives into a coherent whole around the church. We should all be doing this on our own, but it would be a good thing for the Rector to speak as to expectations and best practices.
But what should he say about fasting? My inclination is to follow the old practice of meatless Fridays. What fish on Friday? Isn’t that both too clichéd and too Roman? The problem with lesser disciplines is that they leave insufficient gradation to accommodate a less strict Wednesday fast.
How should the subject of fasting be brought up? The logical time for such a discussion would be some time after the Feast of All Saints and before the Feast of St. Andrew. This would allow the topic of Advent as a season of fasting to be brought up in a positive way. E.g. “if you fast during Advent you won’t have to worry about gaining weight over the holidays” or “if you are only eating one meal a day during Advent you will enjoy all the goodies at holiday parties all the more.”
Thus the parishioners will already be in a routine of fasting on Fridays and have a less strict fasting season under their belt by the time the Lenten Fast arrives. This will make it easier for them to fast during Lent.
That leaves us with the topic of confession. While the general rule is that individual confession is not necessary to the reception of communion, the disciplinary rubrics and the exhortation make it clear that the practice of individual confession is often necessary to the wellbeing of parishioners. It is therefore unfortunate that so few Episcopal parishes offer confession at set hours. A sermon on under what circumstances, individual aural confession are appropriate and a set time would do most parishes a world of good and give the priests a better insight into the state of their flock’s spiritual health.
Friday being a penitential day, would be a good time to schedule confession.
By encouraging the parishioners fast on Friday, while having a penitential rite and the Litany with morning and evening prayer, while scheduling confession on Friday, the Rector can bring the congregation more deeply into the life of the church.
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