Comment on this report, or find other reports. Our Mystery Worshippers are volunteers who warm church pews for us around the world. If you'd like to become a Mystery Worshipper, start here. Find out how to reproduce this report in your church magazine or website.   1717: St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, England Photo: Kaishu Tai Mystery Worshipper: Wanderer. The church: St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, England. Denomination: Church of England, Diocese of Oxford. The building: An historic building right at the heart of Oxford, on Cornmarket Street. The church is so-called because this is the location of the original north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall. The tower, an Anglo-Saxon watchtower built about 1040, is all that remains of the original church and is the oldest building in Oxford. Now a tourist attraction, with an exhibition of some of the church's treasures, it brings thousands of visitors every year. St Michael's was rebuilt in the 13th century, and the north transept was again rebuilt in 1833. A disastrous fire in 1953 destroyed most of the church's interior, but it was quickly restored the next year. St Michael's also has the oldest stained glass in Oxford, in the east window, dating from 1290. So architecturally, it's a fascinating place. The church: St Michael's is the city church of Oxford, with a special ministry to those who work in the city (the university church, St Mary the Virgin, is a short walk away and has an equivalent ministry to members of the university). It's also a church where the Book of Common Prayer is used regularly; indeed, BCP Mattins is offered at least two Sundays in every month! The neighbourhood: The church is on Cornmarket Street, which is one of the liveliest parts of Oxford. It's the main thoroughfare between High and Broad streets, so it gets a lot of pedestrian traffic and is very busy and noisy. Cornmarket is also a temple to consumerism: there are shops of every kind flanking both sides of the street, making St Michael's a refreshing, if slightly jarring, change of scene. The cast: The Revd Hugh Lee, priest in charge and city rector, led the service and preached. The date & time: 3 May 2009, 10.30am. What was the name of the service? Holy Communion (taken from Common Worship Traditional Language). How full was the building? I'd say about a quarter full. Did anyone welcome you personally? I was greeted at the door by a jovial older lady who said, "Good morning!" and handed me a hymn book. Was your pew comfortable? It was comfortable enough – the pews in this church are all cushioned, which helped. There were kneelers, too, which facilitated my "Anglican squat" during the prayers. How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere? It was fairly quiet – not necessarily for reverential reasons, but more of a doctor's-waiting-room atmosphere. Entire pews were being used by one or two people as they chatted among themselves. The priest-in-charge was nattering with a group of people in another pew for a full five minutes directly before the service began, but failed to notice this visitor. I didn't feel particularly welcomed. What were the exact opening words of the service? "Good morning and welcome to St Michael's on this wonderful, sunny morning." What books did the congregation use during the service? Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard (at the door I was given a choice of text-only or melody edition), plus a pew sheet which gave hymn numbers, and a specially-prepared order of service taken from Common Worship. Readings were taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. What musical instruments were played? Worship was led by a very professional-sounding choir and organ. They were certainly up to the standard of an Oxford college choir. Did anything distract you? Father Lee had a habit of making unnecessary introductions which interrupted the liturgical flow, e.g. "The service continues on page 1 of the white booklet." Well, gee, I'd have skipped straight to page 23 if you hadn't explained that – thanks, Father! Also, his eyebrows extended outward a good two inches from his face, giving him the look of an ancient wizard. Very distracting. Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what? This was traditional, middle-of-the-road Anglican worship. The hymns were all well-known standards; unfortunately, the interruptions and explanations from the priest-in-charge detracted from the sense of worship rather than added to it. Exactly how long was the sermon? 13 minutes. On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher? 1 – Father Lee had a very chatty style, with lots of umming and erring, "of course" and "we all know, don't we." Two people walked out of the service while he was preaching! He had also chosen to give notices before the sermon – these lasted about 10 minutes in themselves! In a nutshell, what was the sermon about? The crux of Christianity is that we can talk to Jesus. He mentioned that Mrs Lee and himself had witnessed a "cafe service" at Dorchester Abbey recently and that St Michael's should do the same thing. He also said that the Lord Mayor of Oxford doesn't like saying "Here endeth the reading" but instead prefers more contemporary language, and so we should use street language in church. Which part of the service was like being in heaven? The choir were truly heavenly. The communion motet was a 16th century setting of the Jubilate Deo. Absolutely sublime. And which part was like being in... er... the other place? Father Lee had explained that today was their verger's last Sunday, and that they would be praying for her as she moved on. How sweet, I thought. But when the intercessions actually came around, he forgot to include this intention in his prayers. I felt rather sorry for the poor verger at that point. The intercessions were very odd as well – the priest was talking directly to God as if he were at private prayer, and I felt like I was eavesdropping on his private devotions. There was little opportunity to add our own prayers, silently or aloud. At that point, I was just getting annoyed that this service was such a one-man show. What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost? I stood at the back of church for a few minutes. People smiled as they walked past, but nothing else. How would you describe the after-service coffee? There was fair trade tea and instant coffee in the parish room, served in proper china cups. I grabbed a tea – really quite a nice brew. No one approached me. After a while I took the hint and went my way. How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)? 3 – I'd come back for the choral music, maybe to an evensong (which they hold outside term-time). Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian? Not really. It made me feel quite embarrassed that I am part of a church where liturgical leadership can be so poor. And Christianity is about so much more than just being able to talk to Jesus – I wish the faith hadn't been reduced to such a petty aphorism. What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time? I'll find it hard to forget that, in a church explicitly committed to using the Book of Common Prayer, I had heard a sermon advocating the abolition of traditional language – during a service that used traditional language! And that two members of the congregation walked out of the church as Father preached.   We rely on voluntary donations to stay online. If you're a regular visitor to Ship of Fools, please consider supporting us. The Mystery Pilgrim One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Read here. London churches Read reports from 70 London churches, visited by a small army of Mystery Worshippers on one single Sunday. Read here.             More Mystery Worshipper reports