'Had they kept to the original time, there would have been sun tan lotion bottles mingling with the collection.'

Surefish editor Andy Jackson offers his opinion about this year's Greenbelt Communion service

Celebrating its tenth festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, Greenbelt decided to move one of the biggest events of the weekend. Instead of being a morning communion service, the planners swapped it to three in the afternoon.

Had they kept to the original time, there would have been sun tan lotion bottles mingling with the collection.

However, the heavens opened and umbrellas were up and down in a co-ordinated movement that would have made the makers of the Carphone Warehouse television adverts proud.

The service, as always, tried to be different while at the same time try to appeal to as many worshippers as possible. It’s no mean feat, and again, as always, some bits were brilliant, others not so.

The service took place at the mainstage but also at the smaller venue, the Arena. Those at the Arena had a big screen to watch the action. Those at the mainstage had two cameramen to block the views of those praying and preaching.

Herald

The elements that did work well included the singing of Hark The Herald Angels Sing, which was brave and appropriate and welcomed.

Also, the Rev Lusmarina Campos Garcia, a Lutheran minister from Brazil, pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva, was a fantastic worship leader.

She made jokes, talked about the weather, led the congregation in solemn prayer, and challenged everyone about how we sometimes forget about the rising sun, and that issues such as falling house prices and attitudes towards gay and lesbians sometimes wrongly take priority over the coming Christ.

She also listed people like George Bush and Robert Mugabe who seem to have forgotten about the rising sun altogether.

The parts of the services that were in parts, such as the call to confession, bible readings and prayers for the world, were also a joy to listen to.

Processions

Some elements that could have been better included the opening processions, which would have been worth looking at from mainstage if there weren’t ten thousand other worshippers standing in front of you.

People came from the north, south, east and west, said the host of the service – we’ll have to take his word for it.

The music was provided by Aradhna, a group that studies and performs songs from Nepal.

While they were fantastic throughout the service, playing the song during the serving of the communion to a frenetic conclusion, the songs played before the worship started sounded a bit like a funeral dirge.

There was also an announcement at the end of the worship about a CD on sale of their music. What’s next? Announcements about the bread and wine being sponsored by Kingsmill and Traidcraft?

The songs that tried to sing were led by the Rev Terry MacArthur, choir director and liturgist at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva.

Lesson

One lesson from his leadership is always read the words printed on the order of service, not those you think are being sung (as demonstrated with From The Rising of the Sun by Paul S Demming); another is when you don’t know the song inside out, turn the microphone off (as demonstrated with Here Comes The Sun by Lennon and McCartney).

It would also help those at worship if the songs in other languages were printed phonetically, so that we could all sing the same words. To be fair, the attempt at the Kyrie from Taiwan could have been interpreted as speaking in tongues and so it wasn’t all bad.

Overall, it was a good service. But, as always, there’s still room for improvement. I think it’s time for John Bell and Doug Gay to have another turn.

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