rodenstock01, I think we agree. I am what would be called a "Liturgical Methodist" if there were such a thing--I prefer a very formal service with a lot of liturgy and relatively short sermons. Although I agree that the Senior Minister should have his say, I don't agree that the sermon is the focal point of the service. To me, "Communal Worship" refers to the active participation of the "Body of Christ" in doing and saying things together, not to passively listening to someone expound on Biblical teachings. One can hear or see great sermons on the radio or TV, but one cannot participate in Corporate Worship except by actually being surrounded by the Body of Christ. This is one reason I am so passionate that a church building must have an appreciable amount of reverberation, so that the congregation can hear each other sing and speak. Of course, a reverberant nave is also great for the music, but that is really just a side benefit--the folks in the seats must be able to hear their neighbors to feel a part of the whole.
I attend a really nice United Methodist church and I love the people there, most especially those in the music program. I also am very happy with our new Sanctuary facility and Klais pipe organ--it all sounds wonderful! (Well, I'd like a little more reverberation--we have about 2-2.5 seconds empty now--I think we asked for 3.) However, we only sing 2 hymns instead of the more traditional 3 (for UMC) and sometimes only a couple of verses of those. We do, however, always have at least one choir anthem and sometimes 2; unfortunately, we don't do responsive readings very often, although we do have some unison prayers. Some Sundays we sing the Gloria Patri, but not always; most Sundays we do sing the Doxology. We have general Communion once a month (although it is offered in the Chapel those Sundays it is not observed in the main services), and we use a fairly complete liturgy for that--occasionally, we will use sung responses, but not often. All things considered, I'd probably be happier in an Anglican, Episcopalian, or Lutheran service, given my worship preferences; however, I've been with this church, choir, and congregation for 27 years now and I'd really hate to go somewhere else. For the time being, the main services have not gone too far toward the contemporary trend--we do have a separate service for that--and as long as the music remains fairly traditional (and Classical) I will stay where I am. But if they go to mostly Gaither anthems and praise choruses, I'm leaving! (Fortunately for me, that does not appear likely within my remaining lifetime.) Many of our choir anthems are designed to use piano accompaniment (we have a nice Steinway) and occasionally we have various instrument ensembles, too (even, gasp, drums) to provide accompaniment. Our Music Director tries to include a good mix of musical styles and does a pretty good job.
I guess the above really would better fit the "What Denomination Are You" thread, so I apologize for the Off Topic post. Returning to the original topic, our organist plays excellent Classical music for both Prelude and Postlude, and a significant number of parishioners do stay in the Sanctuary to listen to the Postlude; noise levels from talking there are fairly low--most people go out into the hallways or the Welcome Center (Narthex) to chat, where there is coffee available. If the Postlude is particularly bombastic, we do get applause. Although I'm not a fan of applause during a church service (and we have too much of it), the Postlude is the end of the service and I'm not against it there. I know it embarrasses our organist (she does the music as a service and doesn't think of herself as a performer), but I think it's nice that the parishioners want to let her know they appreciate her efforts. I know I do.
David