Where’s The Mystery?
Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/pepel
I was catching up on some blog reading and was intrigued by a post by Skye Jethani called Worship Through A Child’s Eyes.
In short, Skye noticed his daughter was taking notes while visiting other churches. She later shared with him the following observations which he posted in their unedited form.
CHURCH A
1. When you are singing the first song the pastors walk down the isle and the first is holding a gold cross that is placed on a wooden stick thingy.
2. One of the pastors walking down the isle and close to the end is holding a very pretty looking bible. When she gets to the stage she places it on a wooden table.
3. The pastors are dressed in decrotive robes.
4. The church does not have a screen that has the words of the songs and passeges and prayers. instead they have a little books that has all the songs and prayer in them.
5. The pastors sit on little wooden chairs and listen to who is talking.
5. They have time to confess their sins and the pastors sit on their knees.
6. One of the pastors prepares the table for cumuan.
During cumun someone in a plain white robe holds the bible.
7. They say this during cumuan “Christ has died and Christ has risen Christ will come again”
8. The pastors bow after they finish talking during cumuan.
9. When you are taking cumuan there is one cup that the adults drink from and after the person that is holding the cup wipes it.
10. When church is almost over one of the people in the plain white robes holds the gold cross and when it goes down the isle you have to bow.
CHURCH B
1. They have 3 screens
2. In the back there is a little station that does the lights and screens
3. There are 2 girls singing. And when you sing the lights turn off and these cool lights go on. The music is really loud.
4. In the seat in front of you their is a poket and in that poket their is a welcom thingy and an evolope wich you can give money with
5. There is no cross in the front
6. Their are cool but weird things on the walls
7. Very cool set up
8. There is a coffee shop
It’s really interesting to see how differently she captured the two church services. How she recorded the two worship environments. How in the case of the first, and obviously traditional church, she show a strong interest in the movements in the service of both the worship leader and elements. In the second, more modern church, she recorded more details about the building itself.
To me, and I could be way off since I don’t know this girl, but it sounds to me like she was intrigued by the “holy mystery” of the traditional service.
This fall I am making some changes to our church service. I’m trying out some new things, rearranging some others, in hopes of making people think a little differently about their own worship experience. To hopefully invoke some interest in the holy mystery of worship where maybe we realize that God isn’t actually who we might think He is and to re-evaluate our own understanding of how we relate to God through Jesus Christ.
It may work. It may not. We shall see.
But as I think about going forward, I’m thinking about what this girl captured, and how people might be similarly brought into an awe-filled relationship with our Lord.
Tiny Treasures
“Tiny Treasures”
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Renaudeh
So here we go again, Jesus talking about more seeds. To be honest, I’m tired of seeds. I’ve been talking about them for two weeks now, and since I’m not a fan of gardening, I can no longer think of any other way to tie gardening into this sermon.
Three weeks ago, we talked about the environment in which we allow the seed of God to grow. What sort of soil do we live in that gives the seed of God the best chance to bear fruit within us?
Last week we talked about the harvest, and how we are given a chance to become fruitful plants, to change from the weeds we sometimes are and become plants which are suitable for being harvested by God and brought into his household.
This week, we talk about the mustard seed. But we also talk about a few other things as well. There’s also the yeast in the bread, the treasure in the field, and the pearl of great value.
There’s something in common with all of these. They are small. read more…
Judging the Harvest
“Judging the Harvest”
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/OeilDeNuit
Last week we talked about what it meant to prepare a garden as Jesus taught us the parable of the sower. He told us that we had to be fertile soil ourselves so that the Word of God can take seed inside of us and grow. This week we talk about the other end of the gardening process, we talk about the harvest.
One thing that’s really neat about the growing season is that everything ripens at different times of the summer and fall. Different fruits and vegetables are ready for harvest at different times of the year. Strawberries come in late June, blueberries in August, apples in the fall. Different vegetables come at different times too. Over the summer and fall it is a wonderful spread of fresh produce which could be different from week to week!
But there is one constant all season long. Weeds.
If you don’t take care of the weeds they can take over your garden. And once weeds get in and take over a piece of land, it takes a lot of work to bring it back.
When we moved into the manse two years ago, the back yard was… well… somewhat of a jungle. Two years later, we’ve managed to get some grass growing, but it’s taken a lot of sweat and dirty fingernails to get it to this point. And we’re not even half way done. Most of the yard is still weeds, but we’ve managed to get some grass poking up here and there in less than half of it. Mind you, it looks a whole lot better than it did. Which isn’t too bad for a couple who have no clue about gardening. read more…
Tending the Soil
“Tending the Soil”
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
I want to start off today with asking a few questions. You don’t need to answer out loud, just think them over. There is no right or wrong answer. In fact, these questions are very open to interpretation. You may react very differently to these questions than the person sitting right next to you. So I invite you to listen and let these questions penetrate you and make you think.
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Which is worse, failing or never trying?
If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Would you break the law to save a loved one?
Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
Why are you, you? read more…
Should we stay or should we go?
Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. We have no plans to leave Sydney Mines any time soon.
What I’m talking about is strategies around church growth.
Everything I hear when people talk about the future of the church is, “What can we do to bring people into the church?” And then of course we never come up with a viable answer.
I want to see the question changed… I want the question to be, “Where can the church meet people?”
I believe this question opens up a lot more opportunity for the church to open up the Gospel message to the people in our communities. If we get out of our buildings and introduce people to our faith, then we are doing better work in introducing people to the love of God.
Someone found this great video put out by the folks at Church From Scratch in England which points out the effectiveness of getting back to the basics of sharing the Gospel message and not waiting for people to decide they need to come to the church to get something they don’t even know they are missing.
Jesus walked among the people. He sent out disciples into the communities. The first apostles spread out across the land.
Sitting and waiting does not produce results. Actions, connections, relationships do.