Note the comment from the Orthodox Christian at the end of this article. I love the insulting and condescending statement about those ‘with limited attention spans.’
There’s too much to do these days: Facebook, email, checking on work over the weekend, shopping, errands, relationships, etc. So for the many folks who find there’s just not enough time for church any longer, some worship centers in Florida have an answer.
A 30-minute service.
According to a report in the Sun Sentinel, the change addresses several needs, including those who find themselves pinched for time.
It also offers an option for parents with young children, and those “with limited attention spans.”
The worship center leaders hope people, as a result of the increasing options, will return to worshiping on Sundays.
“We are increasingly aware of the time pressures on families, and they have been telling us that the traditional service is too long for them,” Rev. Chip Stokes of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Delray Beach told the newspaper. “We recognize that things are changing and we have to be more adaptive without losing our core.”
The church has introduced Family Eucharist as an alternative to the traditional 90-minute worship. It’s intended for parents with children up to fourth grade, and Stokes told reporters Louis Solomon and James Davis that several dozen have been attending.
An Trinity Lutheran in Pembroke Pines, worship leaders set the time frame at 50 minutes and target young people for the congregation, the report said.
And Roman Catholics are accommodating the busy with a mass shorter than 45 minutes.
Some, however, aren’t moving with the shifting winds.
“Services are meant to be spiritual; they’re meant to be sensory; that takes time,” James Carras, a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Fort Lauderdale, told the newspaper. “When I go to church, it takes a while to get into the zone, to let go of business or how the Dolphins are doing. The liturgy helps guide you into that zone.”
Added Karen Turnbull, of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach,
“The Lord gives us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And he’s asking us for only one hour to come to church.”
The report noted that the 2012 Millennial Values Survey found a quarter of 18-to-24-year-olds say they have no religious affiliation, and many say they are leaving the faith in which they grew up.
Interesting. Some folks claim they don’t have the attention span for church, but yet they can have it for watching TV, playing video/computer games, dinking on Facebook, attending sports events, and club crawling? Please. People MAKE the time for what matters. I don’t care if this does sound condescending, but I think churches who have to “adapt” don’t deserve to call themselves churches at all! We, the church, are supposed to conform to what God says, NOT what the current trends are. The attitude should be that if a church offers a McLiturgy, it’s time to look for another church…a REAL one!
Take time to be holy – and be quick about it!
I am an Irish Orthodox believer, one of a slowly growing group, many of us have converted from the Irish “default” position of cradle to grave Roman Catholicism. As i write this I have just returned from driving 160 miles setting out at 7.00am to attend Divine Liturgy in Cork, I travelled with an Orthodox friend of mine. The Liturgy was two and a half hours including commemoration for a reposed member of the Parish family. Did we begrudge it? On the contrary as my friend commented as we parted, he “could not think of a better way to spend” one of his rare Sundays off. We had the pleasure of each others company for the drive, the unspeakable wonder of the Divine Liturgy, then chat with Orthodox friends from many countries after Liturgy over a spot of pleasant light refreshment. We then had a pleasant chat as we drove back, through the beautiful landscape of County Cork and Kerry. Before I committed to Orthodoxy, my Orthodox priest advised me to attend Roman Catholic Mass for a little while to weigh up my decision. I attended the Saturday night “vigil Mass” in Listowel, County Kerry, for a while, completed in just over 35 minutes. It was gabbled hurried and many attending it I suspect were ticking off a box to permit them to sleep in on Sunday, after a Saturday nights socialising. Even though it was “quick” it seemed long and tedious to me. Why? Because deep down I felt we were engaged in a futile mockery of true worship, there is nothing quite as tedious as undertaking a pointless task. On the other hand today’s Liturgy was much “longer” in terms of chronological time, yet to me it flew by, because my heart and soul knew that it was a very worthwhile and reasonable form of worship. We can enter into a spiritual space where the significance of man measured time slips away. For me the 35 minute vigil Mass marked not a convenience to me, but rather represented an actual waste of time, whereas today, although we were not home til 5pm, we had spent the day in the most satisfying and illuminating of all possible ways. So let’s not ever trim our sails to meet a prevailing wind, let us continue to afford God time, for the wealth of time and love He constantly lavishes upon us
McLiturgy…that’s great, Sabrina. Now I’m imagining icons on the wall that portray Ronald McDonald and the rest of his gang. The priest is using french fry scented incense and on the altar is a stack of cheeseburgers.
My son and I are servers at a Melkite Catholic church. The Divine liturgy may go from one hour to an hour and a half. If the bishop or bishops are present the liturgy will go much longer, say two hours. As server we have to pay attention to the instructions of the pastor and most of the time we have to do our service while standing up. (Lets not mention what happens if the patriarch is the main celebrent. Christ was on the cross for three hours. He did not complain at all.)
The other issue is not how long the liturgy is celebrated, but when some people show up. There are folks who are always late and they are always late at the same time. This fact applies all denominations. Now if we cut the time of the liturgy( mass or service) what will the late commers be attending.
P. S. As a Melkite I subcribe to this site for the spirituality of our Orthodox sister churches.
Welcome and thanks for writing!
Hmm, I’m Catholic and we do have 30 min masses. This is as far back as I can remember and I’m almost 40. Been to them in several states as well. So….just saying