Music & Liturgy

THOUGHT Provide a contextual and practical frame (or reason) for the work of liturgy and music for our diocese, emphasizing the unique culture and features of our diocese.

WORD Describe how the work of this group will deepen, strengthen, and renew our capacity to live into Jesus’ commandments, while remaining in accordance with the Canons and Constitution of The Episcopal Church.

DEED Provide resources, methods, and approaches our faith communities can use to enrich our worship, our prayer, and our encounters with the sacred.  

Develop experimental liturgies for the diocese to experience and provide feedback on.

The Commission on Liturgy & Church Music is established by Canon 3.7 in the diocesan Constitution and Canons:

 

    • Sec. 1. There shall be a Commission on Liturgy and Church Music, composed of the Bishop and other persons who are skilled in Liturgics or Church Music. At each annual Convention, the Bishop shall make appointments for terms of three years.
    • Sec. 2. The Commission shall serve as an advisory group to the Bishop regarding matters pertaining to liturgy and music. It shall also sponsor programs of instruction and activities designed to promote excellence in these areas of the Church’s ministry.

“Let us give thanks by which we offer to God with reverence and awe.“

Hebrews 12:28

RESOURCES

Episcopal Liturgy

The Liturgy and Music Working Group (LMWG) has gathered resources authorized by the General Convention, reviewed by the working group, or suggested by your clergy in our diocese. This is a working document and will be updated periodically, so please check back regularly. If there are resources you would like to contribute, please contact the working group at [email protected].

Experimental Material

Bishop Akiyama has asked the Liturgy and Music Working Group (LMWG) to thoughtfully propose prayers and texts that we may use together as a diocese that are liturgically beautiful, that remove anti-semitism, that broaden our use of expansive gendered imagery, and that deepen our relationship with God, one another, and creation. Our intent is to experiment across the diocese with shared texts, gather feedback, revise as necessary, and propose the final revisions to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for use as an experimental liturgy that rises up out of local context. Read about the process of Dissemination and Review of Experimental Material. 

Liturgical Survey

The working group hopes to facilitate communication among congregations about who is doing what and why, what liturgical questions or conundrums people have, what challenges people are finding, as well as what solutions they are trying, etc. To that end, we will be inviting clergy and worship leaders to respond to surveys so that we can begin the process of dialogue across the diocese. The surveys are not intended to put anyone at risk of censure. Our desire is to facilitate our working together and sharing wisdom and experience with one another. Read more here.

HELPFUL LINKS

LIST OF EXPERIMENTS/SURVEYS

    • Liturgy Survey 1: Liturgy of the Word [ACTIVE – Take now!]

    • Experimental Text: EOW1 Eucharistic Prayer 3, used for the season after Epiphany 2024. The Text as PDF, DOCX, GDOC; THE SURVEY. [ACTIVE]

    • Liturgy Survey 2:  Liturgy of the Table [Scheduled for the season after Epiphany]

    • Experimental Text: Revised Good Friday gospel and prayers. THE TEXT; THE SURVEY. [Holy Week]

    • Liturgy Survey 3: EOW or Music [Scheduled for the Easter season]

    • Experimental Text: Season of Creation. THE TEXT; THE SURVEY. [Labor Day to St. Francis]

    • End of Year Survey

Members

The working group meets regularly on the first Wednesday of the month unless otherwise noted.

The Rev. Judith Jones
St. Stephen, Newport & St. Luke by the Sea, Waldport

The Rev. Andria Skornik
All Saints, Portland

The Rev. Birch Rambo
Church of the Resurrection, Eugene

The Rev. Raggs Ragan
St. Aidan, Portland

Contact the working group
[email protected]