NOTES
for the
Family Service
at
St. Augustine's

2009 August 2

These are notes and comments on some of the items which appear in the Family Service script. Links from the script point to these entries; clicking the links in the left hand column of the table takes you back to the corresponding link in the script - or, where more than one link from the script points to the note, back to the first such link.
The comments are typically related to features of the service which are specific to our church or the time of the service, or which for some other reason we think might require alteration for another setting.
For references to the internal geography of the church, it might be helpful to inspect the plan.

BEFORE THE SERVICE -
Properties : At the back :

Crown for David;
Staff for Nathan;
Sheep for poor man;
Cards to fix on church picture.

At the front, organ side : Camp fire, tripod and pot;
At the front, hospital side : St Augustine's church picture and stand near lectern.

Furniture : "Reserved" notice in front seat organ side;
Bishop's chair at front Hospital side for King David;
lectern by Hospital wall.
People : Narrator at lectern ( by Hospital wall );
Leader at lectern;
Computer person at computer;
Organist at organ;
Adult and child sitting in front seat organ side;
People to hand out orders of service.

ALL The congregation's responses during the service were included in the programme, and also shown on the overhead projector screen.
BASKET OF BREAD A wicker basket containing small bread rolls. There should be enough to ensure that all in the congregation can have one if they desire.
CAMP FIRE Our usual camp fire, with a clay pot suspended over it from a tripod.
CARDS A set of cards each bearing one of the words "humble", "gentle", "patient", "loving", "tolerant", "unity", "peace", in characters ideally sufficiently large to be readable from anywhere in the church. They are prepared ready to fix onto the church picture; we used dabs of "Bluetak".
CHURCH PICTURE A line drawing of the church which we've used before - also shown in the picture above.
( David's ) CROWN needn't be very elaborate. We used a narrow rectangular strip of "gold" card formed into a circle by joining its ends together.
JOHN John Leitch, attached to the parish for the time being and a regular celebrant at St Augustine's. He introduced us to Jelly Bean Time ( or introduced JBT to us ).
LAMB A doll, or other model. Ours was about 20cm long. This is obviously too small to be realistic, but if it's much bigger it will be harder to show it being cooked.
POINTS TO THE CONGREGATION This could usefully be emphasised more. It identifies the congregation as the sheep, which explains why the Rich Man later surveys the congregation when looking for a sheep to kill.
POT Something in which a lamb might be cooked in the context of the story. "Lamb" should be interpreted in the context of your presentation - see LAMB above. Here's a picture showing our pot in action.
( Nathan's ) STAFF A fairly sturdy roughish wooden pole, up to about shoulder height or a bit less. It's purely for effect; he doesn't do anything with it. ( In fact, our Nathan touched David gently on the shoulder with his staff after David's repentance; that was quite effective. )
THRONE The throne should look a bit more impressive than an ordinary chair, but must ( obviously - it has to be moved during the service ) be reasonably easy to move about. We used a fairly imposing chair.
TRIPOD The tripod serves to support a cooking pot over the "camp fire".


BEFORE THE SERVICE -
Properties :	At the back : Crown for David; Staff for Nathan; Sheep for poor man; Cards to fix on church picture. At the front, organ side : Camp fire, tripod and pot; At the front, hospital side : St Augustine's church picture and stand near lectern.
Furniture :	"Reserved" notice in front seat organ side; Bishop's chair at front Hospital side for King David; lectern by Hospital wall.
People :	Narrator at lectern ( by Hospital wall ); Leader at lectern; Computer person at computer; Organist at organ; Adult and child sitting in front seat organ side; People to hand out orders of service.

ALL	The congregation's responses during the service were included in the programme, and also shown on the overhead projector screen.
BASKET OF BREAD	A wicker basket containing small bread rolls. There should be enough to ensure that all in the congregation can have one if they desire.
CAMP FIRE	Our usual camp fire, with a clay pot suspended over it from a tripod.
CARDS	A set of cards each bearing one of the words "humble", "gentle", "patient", "loving", "tolerant", "unity", "peace", in characters ideally sufficiently large to be readable from anywhere in the church. They are prepared ready to fix onto the church picture; we used dabs of "Bluetak".
CHURCH PICTURE	A line drawing of the church which we've used before - also shown in the picture above.
( David's ) CROWN	needn't be very elaborate. We used a narrow rectangular strip of "gold" card formed into a circle by joining its ends together.
JOHN	John Leitch, attached to the parish for the time being and a regular celebrant at St Augustine's. He introduced us to Jelly Bean Time ( or introduced JBT to us ).
LAMB	A doll, or other model. Ours was about 20cm long. This is obviously too small to be realistic, but if it's much bigger it will be harder to show it being cooked.
POINTS TO THE CONGREGATION	This could usefully be emphasised more. It identifies the congregation as the sheep, which explains why the Rich Man later surveys the congregation when looking for a sheep to kill.
POT	Something in which a lamb might be cooked in the context of the story. "Lamb" should be interpreted in the context of your presentation - see LAMB above. Here's a picture showing our pot in action.
( Nathan's ) STAFF	A fairly sturdy roughish wooden pole, up to about shoulder height or a bit less. It's purely for effect; he doesn't do anything with it. ( In fact, our Nathan touched David gently on the shoulder with his staff after David's repentance; that was quite effective. )
THRONE	The throne should look a bit more impressive than an ordinary chair, but must ( obviously - it has to be moved during the service ) be reasonably easy to move about. We used a fairly imposing chair.
TRIPOD	The tripod serves to support a cooking pot over the "camp fire".

NOTESfor the Family ServiceatSt. Augustine's

2009 August 2

NOTES
for the
Family Service
at
St. Augustine's