Title: 760 words
Author: nph
Last saved by: Bryan Gerlach

Preparing for Gathering Rites
Gathering rites may be used on Sundays as a replacement for the opening section of the service, up to the Prayer of the Day. These rites have several useful and flexible features:
•	Variety to enhance a sense of the season
•	Flexible accompaniments
•	Texts that enhance thematic unity
•	Refrains and responses that involve worshipers
The presiding minister and musician(s) need to rehearse carefully the flow of a gathering rite. The music is not difficult, but it does require attention to details and transitions. Advance rehearsal by leaders and an easy-to-follow worship folder will assure a comfortable first experience for worshipers. The worship folder layouts provided at the WELS Worship website provide the necessary worship folder content: texts, music graphics, as well as service notes for leaders.
Gathering rites provide many of these service elements: Entrance Song (like an opening hymn), Invocation, Confession and Absolution, and Kyrie (Lord, Have Mercy). Music and a recurring refrain join all of these elements to form a unified beginning of the service. 
Music is a powerful tool for reinforcing the mood and character of seasons of the church year. Gathering rites have their own unique character. Determine the desired ambiance and then use appropriate tempo, volume, and presider’s style to reinforce this ambiance. 
Vocal leadership may vary from Sunday to Sunday: cantor or soloist, presiding minister, choir of children or adults. It is not necessary to sing every verse of the entrance song every Sunday. Choral harmony on the refrain is optional; unison choir and omission of descanting instruments provide more support while the congregation is learning its part. Additional support for the congregation’s melody may be provided by a solo organ sound (against softer organ accompaniment or piano) and/or by a solo instrument. In some parishes or with some gathering rites, a concise and well-planned pre-service rehearsal may be beneficial.
Accompaniment options are flexible and may vary from Sunday to Sunday: organ only, piano and organ, optional solo instrument or guitar, and more. Various combinations create a musical feel that ranges from fairly traditional to mildly contemporary. On the WELS Worship website you can listen to audio excerpts.
While the concept of the gathering rite has been well received in WELS, one particular rite might not have a “life span” of more than three consecutive years. Thus a parish might use one gathering rite for two or three years, then another approach for two or three years (a hymnal liturgy, or another gathering rite), then return again to the earlier option.
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Download worship folder content at:
https://connect.wels.net/AOM/ps/worship - search under the various “Church Year Planning…”