Final Project Guide

RS 150, Telford Work

Your final exam is an 8-10 page analysis of a church service in a particular Christian tradition. In this assignment, you may need to draw on secondary sources beyond the course reading. Analyses will be due Tuesday, April 23. These may be peer reviewed (at my future discretion). Your analysis will count as 30% of your final grade. It will need to interpret the service in its tradition, compare it to others, and evaluate it with the methods developed in the course materials.

Even if you are familiar with the church's liturgical tradition, you should think about recruiting a guide (the pastor? an elder? an old-timer?) who can explain unfamiliar details during or after the service. If you need help during the service, ask a neighbor who seems to know what he or she is doing.

Please include the printed program of the worship service you attend, so I can follow along. If none is available (or if the program is not descriptive enough), outline it yourself. Don't forget details like the name and denomination of the church, which service you attended, and so on.

Questions you should plan on answering include:

• How does the service reflect the history of its liturgical tradition? How does it not? (You will, obviously, use White for this. If White's histories are unhelpful you may also want to consult the text the music students are using, Jubilate II: Church Music in Worship and Renewal, by Donald P. Hustad [Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1989].)
  
• How do aspects of the service confirm or disconfirm theological claims of its liturgical tradition (e.g., are features of an evangelical service supporting or contradicting the distinct claims of evangelicalism)? How do they confirm or disconfirm the theological claims for liturgy made in Primary Sources, The Study of Liturgy, Christian Worship in North America, and/or the claims we have made in class discussion? Obviously there are so many of these, and so many liturgical features and events of the service, that you will have to be selective. Choose the best of both.

Further tips:

Look at:

• The structure of the service (what comes where in the order of worship, and why might the order be theologically significant?).
• The words and tenor of either rehearsed or extemporaneous prayers.
• The words and tenor of songs and hymns. Often traditional hymns are theologically packed, and chosen carefully for their liturgical occasion, so pay close attention here.
• Scripture. How does the choice of Scriptures serve liturgical purposes? You may want to consult a Revised Common Lectionary to see how a particular text fits into the readings for its year.
• Sermon themes and illustrations.
• Other features of the service: processional; dress, decorations, and "effects"; special rituals like baby dedications, drama, baptisms, and confirmation; offering and offertory; Communion; benediction; recessional; etc. How do these reflect historical and theological themes in the church's worship?

Look for:

• Prominence of central themes from our syllabus (such as indigenization, sacred space, characteristic concerns of the patristic era, politics, and major Christian doctrines).
• Connections with particular details from lectures, presentations, and readings (cited appropriately, of course).
• Particularly insightful or striking uses of Scripture and other weighty liturgical texts (such as the Sanctus, Kyrie, words of institution, and creeds).
• Ways you see the course concepts coming alive in that community's life.

Uh-oh! What if the service is theologically and doctrinally poor?

• First, don't condemn it too quickly. Before you give up on the service, look hard for signs of underlying liturgical and theological health. Begin with a spirit of charity. Remember, Jesus promised to be with his witnesses where they gather together. Take him at his word. Play "Where's Waldo," and look for where the presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be manifesting itself. Be responsive to the fact that the church may simply be doing things in an unfamiliar way, so that you have to "translate."
• If the service simply needs improvement, then tell me how you might improve it. (This is more a matter of conforming the worship to the work of Christ, especially as it has been embodied in that church's particular liturgical tradition, than of conforming it to your personal expectations for what every church should look like!)

Don't forget to have your papers peer-reviewed. I want to see a name on your first page telling me who read your draft. Follow the applicable directions in my handout for writing papers. To summarize those, I want to see proper style, clear writing, a thorough answer to the question, and explicit citations of course materials.