The Spirit of Calvin and 'Intimations' in 'religious worship'

Any group of people who meet regularly need a helpful way to stay informed about their community life. Churches are no different. It is a common place in our congregations for announcements to be made each week in church. Indeed it's all too common: Church picnics and working bees, congregational outreach and the Lord's Supper, and even edicts concerning the ordination or demission of ministers/deacons/elders all must be advertised, and of course their promoters accommodated (or appeased). Announcements are so common place that the most obvious problem with them is keeping them within limits. In this article I want to take you into the world of Reformed worship, if not take you back to worship in Calvin's Geneva. The point in doing so is not just because of a possible historical interest, but because Calvin's approach to worship actually gives a solution to the very practical problem of announcements (or in our Presbyterian vocabulary 'Intimations') in worship.