Surely, if God takes such a long time to get things ready, then preparation must be very important, part of His character. If that is so, then we should follow His way and apply this principle to our Church life.

So let's think about getting ready for our worship of Him

In my retirement I have continued to take services for churches where they have no vicar, or the vicar is away. I have found myself in five or six dioceses in any year, and I have to say that it is all too common to arrive for a Sunday service to find nothing ready, and if there is no clergy person present it often means that the lay men and women have not a clue as to where things are or what should have been done in preparation.

It is an absolute mystery to me as to why Licensed Readers, Lay Pastoral Assistants, Churchwardens, and sometimes servers too, have not been shown (a) where everything is that will be needed for a Communion Service, or (b) how to prepare the sacred vessels ready for a service.
I hope you won’t mind or take offence, but I am going to be quite blunt and open in what I say.

All Readers, all Deacons (male and female), and all servers ought to be instructed in how to do these things. So should churchwardens and sidespeople.

They should know both how and why each item or colour is used, and be quite competent to get everything ready before a service.

Similarly, all linen used at Holy Communion should be spotless.

It is quite possible for every church to have a man or woman appointed as sacristan, with duties of seeing that all linen and the silver used for a Eucharist and the robes are in good order.

The glass containers (or “cruets) for holding the wine and water should also be clean and sparkling. There is no need for them to have stains, discolouration or “high water marks’ on them.

You only need to use the kind of tablets available for cleaning false teeth and put some into a water-filled cruet and the inside becomes clean.

I know a lady sacristan who was congratulated by a visiting Bishop, who had come to take an 8 a.m. Holy Communion, on the cleanliness of the linen, glass and silver items. She was completely puzzled by his remarks and politely asked him what he meant? “Why,” he said, “If you could see the grubby cloths, torn purificators, and stained cruets I see in some churches, you would understand why seeing yours is such a joy.”

How dare we have clean things on our own tables and soiled unwashed things on the Lord’s Table?

Any of our Anglican Church Bookshops can provide a booklet explaining how to do these things and how to launder and iron the things used on the Lord’s Table or Altar.

Another sign of unpreparedness, which is an absolute “pain in the neck”, is when the assembling congregation has to watch the antics of a clergy person who is rushing in all directions just before a service begins. There is a search in his stall to find the books needed, hurried whispered conversations with church officers or servers or the organist, and everything is done as if the local Vicar had just been rushed into hospital and some deputy had been hijacked into church at five minutes to time and had to find out everything needed in that short period!

I do so strongly agree with those who believe that every person who has a part in a service should have everything ready long before the appointed hour.

A practice which I have always felt was “just right” is for any person who is going to lead public worship on a Sunday morning - Vicar, Minister, Lay Preacher, Reader, Pastoral Assistant or whoever - to feel that it is essential to spend a minimum of 20 minutes actually in the church on the Saturday in order to think through the whole service and see that every book needed is out, all places marked, and full information available for everybody having any responsibilities during the service.

If this “visit” is made on the Saturday, it gives a splendid opportunity to pray there for all who will or might come and for God’s help for oneself too.

This preliminary work can help so much towards a spirit of quiet preparedness on the day.

Similarly, well before the service begins, the leader needs to make contact with key people to ensure they are aware of and happy about whatever they are going to do.

Time too to kneel quietly and pray that the Holy Spirit would guide his or her every word, every look, every gesture, every tone of voice, and that He would be at work in the hearts and minds of the hearers as well as the speakers.

As the Good Book tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46. 10, N.I.V., R.V.).

This same principle of preparation applies to those who read from the Bible at church services.

In some places the Minister may go up to someone who has just come into church for a Sunday service and ask, “Will you please read one of the Bible passages for us? Book so and so, chapter ...“

Contrast this with a service someone once told me about at which various members of the acting profession were to take part.
During the two days before the service, the Vicar had several phone calls from actors or actresses who had reading parts, enquiring as to the exact meaning or significance of some word or sentence they were to read.

If professionals take so much trouble to prepare to read in church, so should the rest of us!

Except in emergencies, every lesson—reader should have time, and take time, to understand the meaning of what is to be read, and practise it so that the message is conveyed as clearly and faithfully as possible.

The same thing applies where lay people take the main intercessions. Only the other day a church member described to me how the Vicar had phoned up at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night and said, “Will you take the intercessions tomorrow?” As this person said, “I was already very tired and it meant an hour’s work just before going to bed.”

to be continued