Something old, something new; new ways in an ancient setting

Cybi Unplugged is a new venture, but for it to have genuine credibility it must share an identity with what has happened in the Roman fort in Holyhead for a millennium and a half, that is, Christian worship.

Much of the worship that would have been offered in the fort would have been liturgical, usually, allthough not always centred on the Eucharist/Mass/Lord's Supper.

Since the Reformation, the worship would have been Anglican, which has prided itself of being in the vernacular (language of the people) and rooted in the teachings of the earliest Church fathers and mothers, and of course the creeds. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi has been a strapline for Anglican worship for generations, essentially meaning that was what we believe is expressed in our worship.

It would seem clear that in times past, indeed within my own life time, Anglican Christians could be formed by the liturgy. Given the reshaping of habits of worship it is not as easy for this to happen today.

• “As we pray, so we believe”, may not be true for those who only participate in our liturgy 6 to 12 twelve times a year, as is increasingly the case in our early 21st century landscape. With a once-a-month attendance pattern, a “regular” attender may only hit one Sunday in Advent or Lent, and only experience the Day of Pentecost once in three to five years.

 This is acute for Cybi Unplugged, as it is for Messy Church in Morawelon - the majority of our worshippers do not come from traditional liturgical church backgrounds. 

We do say sorry to God and each other. 

We do listen to the word of God through the Bible (this could be done from a video clip or listening to an audio reading)

We do have a talk

We do respond to each other and to God

We do have a pattern. It is not quite the same as what happens on a Sunday morning, but then again it is in a very different language to that which Cybi spoke (Latin, Cornish, Welsh)