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We acknowledge that we are in strange and unprecedented times, but also recognize the importance of continuing, as able, to celebrate our anniversary year as something we can do together while we are apart.
This year, the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast is celebrating its 50th Jubilee Anniversary. Each month of 2020, we have chosen a particular focus that honors our life in Christ in very special ways and highlights our theme of Remember, Reorient, Renew. We've also created a toolkit full of resources to help you celebrate with us. All of our resources for the year are available on our website at
www.diocgc.org/jubilee-celebration.
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For the month of June, our focus is
Liturgy & Worship. Our liturgy is the church's public worship of God. The term is derived from Greek words for "people" and "work." The church's public worship of God is the work of the Christian people. The life of Christ active in the church by the Spirit is expressed through our liturgy.
The unity of the members of the church in Christ is expressed most fully in liturgy. Liturgy expresses the church's identity and mission, including the church's calling to invite others and to serve with concern for the needs of the world. Whether the liturgy is done by many or few, it is the corporate liturgy of the whole church.
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Collect for Our Jubilee Year
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Lord God of all creation, fill us with your grace as we remember your kindness and goodness towards us, through providence and through struggle; and let the trumpets proclaim the year of Jubilee, a year of the Lord’s favor, as we dedicate ourselves to reorient our mission efforts to renew your Gospel in our midst. May your Spirit inspire us, we pray in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Music for Our Jubilee Year Celebration
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Christopher Powell of Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile was commissioned to compose our Jubilee Hymn, and we feel it accurately portrays our diocese and our life together in Christ. We invite you to learn the hymn with the hope that when we can safely sing once again in our churches, that we can proclaim our joyful Jubilee. For now, corporate singing is not allowed in our churches in order to keep everyone safer from the coronavirus; however, we encourage you to learn the hymn on your own, or watch the video of select choir members from Christ Church Cathedral singing the hymn.
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Background of Early Liturgy and Worship
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The first Christians had no explicitly liturgical books. Apparently they continued the ritual pattern of Judaism, but interpreted and remodeled it in accordance with the Christian gospel. Once the church moved further from its Jewish roots and sought to adapt itself to the languages, culture, and thought of the Gentile world, there developed a type of book, the church order, which contained descriptions of various liturgies, models for prayers, and directions for the conduct of rites.
To learn about the historical beginnings of liturgy and worship, visit our resources here.
T
he background information is quite interesting!
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Options for Participation*
*Due to current restrictions for our in-person worship, modification of the below options may be necessary for online participation. Be creative!
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Create your own Collect that emphasizes the Jubilee Year of our diocese.
Learn how here.
Use the
1928 Prayer Book for a service* as a reminder of our beginnings and what has changed and what has not changed.
*Note: Permission has been granted by Bishop Russell for the use of the
1928 Prayer Book.
Use one of the alternate liturgical resources*, such as
Enriching Our Worship 1 (New York: Church Publishing Inc., 1998), for a fresh look at how liturgy might be done and to see how alternate forms of language instruct the liturgy.
*Note that use of an alternate liturgy on a Sunday or major feast day requires permission of the bishop.
Celebrate Evening Prayer or Evensong as a reminder of how we began (the first service of the new diocese was Evening Prayer at Christ Church in Pensacola) and to experience the richness and beauty of this service.
Create an alternate form or text for your Prayers of the People to emphasize our monthly Jubilee ‘themes,’ or the main Jubilee themes of remember, reorient and renew.
Learn how here.
Join with other churches for an online common worship service, perhaps on a Sunday, or perhaps on a weekday that is most convenient. Pooling both liturgical and musical resources can be a great way to create a whole new experience.
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Currently, we do not have any in-person events scheduled, but we hope you are able to participate in virtual events with people in your community.
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The theme for July is called
Our Selves, Our Souls, Our Bodies. Well known author, Walter Brueggemann, wrote a short book entitled,
Sabbath Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. Other leading authors, like Barbara Brown Taylor, have argued for a similar return to Sabbath-keeping. These authors reminds us of two important faith guideposts: remember the Sabbath and keep it holy; you cannot pour from an empty cup. In this month of our Jubilee year, we are called upon to examine our own spiritual wellness, our Sabbath-keeping, our spiritual disciplines and habits, and perhaps our own call to a Sabbath-as-resistance. What we say ‘yes’ to is as important as what we say ‘no’ to as well.
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Gratitude
Our thanks to the 50th Jubilee Anniversary subcommittee on worship and arts who put together the resources for this month: Beverly Gibson, Russell Kendrick, Walt Kindergan, Christopher Powell, and Haden Tirey.
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