RuralMinistry .Church

Sometimes a Lay Reader or other parishioner may need to lead a mid-week or Sunday service in the absence of a priest - often at very short notice! Here are some guidelines to assist you:

1. As a lay person, rather than give an Absolution you may use the word 'us' instead of 'you', or pray the Trisagion ("Holy God, Holy and mighty, Holy and immortal, Have mercy on us.") and rather than give a Blessing you may pray the Grace ("May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen."). Both of these are printed in A Prayer Book for Australia.

2. If your usual service is Holy Communion and you have only had very short notice, consider this approach to lead a service of prayer (this apprach is drawn from second Order Morning and Evening Prayer in A Prayer Book for Australia): Use your church's usual Communion service as printed (while mindful of substituting the Absolution) up until the Creed. Then bring forward the Greeting of Peace (and take a collection if that is the usual practice), then have an extended time of intercessory prayer, and finish with the Lord's Prayer, the Grace and Dismissal.

3. Readings for each Sunday are available through the Diocese of Willochra Monthly Downloads page.

4. Reflections for each Sunday are available through the Diocese of London's Homilies Project, or The Sunday Website at Saint Louis University. Alternatively reflections for each Sunday are available in the book Celebrating Sundays: Reflections from the Early Church on the Sunday Gospels or for every day of the year consider Celebrating the Seasons / Celebrating the Saints (These are previews, so consider purchasing these books for use in the future).

5. If you have several days preparation time or you are regularly leading services, consider leading Seasonal Morning Prayer. Alternatively, if you are licensed, trained and instructed by your priest or bishop you may lead communion by extension (Diocese of Ballarat Service here).