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| 2408: St John
the Evangelist, Horsham, West Sussex, England |
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Mystery
Worshipper: The Old Man from Scene
24.
The church:
St John the Evangelist,
Horsham, West Sussex, England.
Denomination:
Roman Catholic, Diocese
of Arundel & Brighton.
The building:
A Perpendicular Gothic Revival stone and rubble church of 1919–23
with side chapels to the nave. It has a more recent hall with
an impressive series of arches as its entrance. The main church
building has only just closed in the past couple of weeks for
refurbishment, and services are being held in the hall for the
duration.
The church:
They support two primary schools and one secondary school in
the local area. St John's itself has active links with the local
Filipino community and runs a number of programmes: RCIA (Rite
of Christian Initiation of Adults); The Real Presence, which
is a series of monthly talks helping Catholics discover Christ
in their daily lives; and an Alpha course.
The neighbourhood:
St John's is right in the heart of Horsham town centre next
to a popular pub and opposite a United Reformed church.
The cast:
The priest who led the service wasn't listed anywhere or named.
The date & time:
8 July 2012, 6.30pm.
What was the name of the service?
Evening Mass.
How full was the building?
Very full – about 95 per cent, probably over 150 in attendance.
Did anyone welcome you
personally?
I was running a few moments late so was walking briskly in.
A member of the clergy was greeting people, but I wanted to
catch the opening words of the service so didn't wait my turn
to be greeted.
Was your pew comfortable?
Standard wooden pew without any cushioning. As the hall was so packed with these, I didn't have much leg room either.
How would you describe the pre-service
atmosphere?
The opening hymn was being sung as I arrived, so I didn't get
a chance to sample the pre-service atmosphere.
What were the exact opening words of the
service?
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit."
What books did the congregation
use during the service?
The Order of Mass – New English Translation and
Celebration Hymnal for Everyone.
What musical instruments
were played?
An amplified acoustic guitar.
Did anything distract you?
Despite using the mass sheet, we went quite a way off script
at the beginning and I wasn't able to follow what was going
on. A significant part of the mass was being sung and the tunes
were not included in the service sheet, so I felt excluded from
the first 15 minutes of the service.
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or
what?
Probably fairly low on the candle for a Catholic service, with
some pretty uplifting hymns sung to a guitar accompaniment.
Exactly how long was the sermon?
10 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher?
3 – The priest's style was fairly engaging, but it was
unclear what message he was trying to convey or how it was linked
to the gospel reading for the day. He dropped in a couple of
in-jokes about a neighbouring diocese.
In a nutshell, what was
the sermon about?
The sermon was based on the gospel reading of Christ being rejected
by his own townspeople – a prophet not welcome by his own.
The priest attempted to draw a parallel to the Church's mission
to be a prophetic voice to society.
Which part of the service
was like being in heaven?
The hymn sung at communion was an old favourite of mine: "Do
not be afraid, for I have redeemed you." It was particularly
touching, as I hadn't sung it since I was a child.
And which part was like being in... er... the other place?
We were all supposed to kneel at one point. As the pews were
so tightly packed together, our pew wasn't far enough from the
one in front for us to kneel properly, so we bowed our heads.
Unfortunately someone in front had long legs and knocked the
kneeling pad row back and it clobbered me in my shins as it
fell. Ouch!
What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost?
Everyone streamed out of the hall. I shook the priest's hand
and thanked him for the service. After that I started to take
photos of the church building, and a pleasant chap who appeared
to have visited the pub next door engaged me in conversation.
How would you describe the after-service
coffee?
No sign of refreshments, which I put down to our having using
the hall, where refreshments would presumably normally be set
out.
How would you feel about
making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)?
2 – I was impressed with the hymn selection and worship
style, the wider work of the church, and the depth of community
involvement. But the mass was a bit messy at the start when
it went off script. The congregation seemed very pleasant, as
did the priest, but the sermon was disjointed and I couldn't
make out what the message was. Finally, although I was born
and raised a Catholic, I have significant theological differences
with the Catholic Church and can't see myself regularly attending.
Did the service make you
feel glad to be a Christian?
It did, actually. I left spiritually uplifted and glad to see
such a well attended church that has such devotion to its community
and mission.
What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time?
The hymn "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you." |
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| The Mystery Pilgrim |
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| One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Read here. |
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