Tag Archives: mystery worship

July 24, 2012 · 6:48 pm

Mystery Worship Twelve: Memorial Services

Note: this the last of a series. Mystery Worship One is here; Mystery Worship Two is here; Mystery Worship Three is here. Four is here. Five is here. Six is here. Seven is here. Eight is here. Nine is here. Ten is here. Eleven is here.

For weeks now, I’ve wandered into different churches in different places, seeking to learn how they worship, and how I experience different types of worship. Some were wonderful, some awful, most just ordinary. One in particular especially touched my soul.

But worship takes place in other venues, sometimes quite powerfully. Today, I offer the mystery worship of two memorial services I attended in the last two weeks.

Death, no matter how well expected or even welcomed in some cases, nearly always leaves people stunned and numb. The worst is the loss of infants and children—no parent ever wants to bury a child. Mourners need a place to acknowledge grief. No matter how strong our belief in life after death, the one who has died is not with us any longer physically. We will not hear the voice, stroke the hair, walk hand in hand, engage in two-way conversations.

But there must be more than just mourning. This is also time for stories, for funny memories, and celebration of the person’s uniqueness’s and oddities. A good memorial service means laughter as well as tears, a place to go into the full range of human emotions. It may also need to be a time to offer forgiveness, release grudges and become free from old hurts and wounds.

The first one service celebrated the life of a friend from Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, where I previously served. I was grieved to hear of this death and relieved to hear that she had died peacefully, passing from this life to the next the way she wished.

During the service, I found myself immersed in the wonders of sensing the presence of God, the impact that this woman’s life had made on so many, and reliving some great memories of someone with whom I had bonded so tightly and unexpectedly—though a generation apart, we had become instant friends over our shared work.

The interplay of the Scripture readings, the excellent music—organ and bagpipe—the hymns, prayers and message wove a net that gently held me and the others as we savored our memories of friend, co-worker, sister, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother.

A former pastor led the service and brought the message. With great skill and clear love for and knowledge of her, he wove the Beatitudes through her life, knitting together timeless words into a time-bound story.

The second service I attended was a celebration of the life of a man whom I did not know. However, I had recently become acquainted with his wife and wanted to attend in support of her.

It was not held in a church, nor particularly religious in nature, as was appropriate in this case. Still I found myself caught up in the mystery of life and death, of the history of a complex man who had lived fully, loved many, and delighted his friends. The riches of his nature, including his dark side and some of the difficulties that it caused, were freely shared. Stories from friends and family–funny, profound, sad, real–simply mesmerized me. Again, powerful and well-done music held us together.

Both services ended with gracious invitations to extend the time over food where family and friends could gather and converse leisurely and comfortably. People now move far from hometowns. A funeral often serves as a reunion, renewing family and friendship bonds.

Great services, the very best—and I’ve seen the worst. Times where the pastor not only did not know the deceased but also did not learn from family and friends the things that made that person unique. There have been others when high family tensions and deep impassible breaches kept people apart even in grief.

At its worst, a death leaves us even more divided from one another and more fearful of our own inevitable passing. At its best, that time opens the heavens for us and gives us hope.

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Tagged as death, memorial services, mystery worship, worship

July 17, 2012 · 11:23 am

Mystery Worship Eleven: A Missed Opportunity

Note: this is part of an ongoing series. Mystery Worship One is here; Mystery Worship Two is here; Mystery Worship Three is here. Four is here. Five is here. Six is here. Seven is here. Eight is here. Nine is here. Ten is here.

On my first Sunday back in Texas, I decided to attend an Orthodox Church for my Mystery Worship time.

With some research for preparation, I discovered that the Orthodox Church considers itself the only true church, and is not in communion with other Christian groups. Those who receive the sacrament of Holy Communion are expected to have made a confession in the presence of an Orthodox Priest within the last 24 hours and to come fasting to the service.

I read that worshippers stand throughout the entire, mostly sung, service (90 minutes to six hours in length), kiss icons (women do not wear lipstick), make multiple signs of the cross and engage in both bowing and acts of prostration.

Requested dress code: slacks, dress shoes, collared shirt for men—and absolutely no hats—and long skirt or pants, modest blouse, minimal makeup, and head covering for women.

I woke on that morning in some discomfort, physical and mental. First, I had worked in the garden for seven hours the day before and had suffered a bit of heat exhaustion. Second, during that sojourn in the garden, my unprotected feet disturbed a fire ant mound. Bites everywhere, still tender, and I dreaded the idea of even the lightest of shoes and a long time on my feet. Third, the thought of going to a worship service where I had little idea of what would happen suddenly seemed overwhelming to me. I feared standing out, looking like an idiot, disturbing the worship of others, and being physically miserable.

Nonetheless, I rose, dressed in a long black skirt and long sleeved blouse, and stuck my bite-covered feet into normally comfortable sandals.

At the appointed time, I left the house, drove to the location I had pinpointed, looked at the people outside, and realized something: I had forgotten a head covering and had nothing in my car I could use.

The barriers to worship simply became too high for me. Discouraged, and feeling completely worn out, I headed home.

On that return trip, I began to think about what it is like for anyone to come into worship for the first time. The mysteries of worship services, language, customs and etiquette stay nearly indecipherable to many.

Traditional church bulletins are littered with headings like “prelude, doxology, Gloria Patri, benediction.” We toss around buzz words such as Sacrament, liturgy, soteriology, ecclesiology, sanctification, salvation, atonement, justification, pre-lapsarianism (OK, that one is just for show).

I thought about how much planning it took for me to attend worship during my weeks away. Most places meant either a long walk or a need to catch a train, underground and then more walking to get to the places I wanted to go.

I didn’t know anyone at any place I visited. I walked in and out a stranger, mostly by my own design.

While worship must not be about our own comfort, it also takes place within a community. Often, but not always, powerful worship takes place as part of a connection of people who know each other, care for each other, push one another to greater godliness, and actively work together to serve the world

I knew that, had I been walking into a known community that Sunday, I would have just laughed off my forgetfulness, ignored my bitten feet, borrowed what I needed, and freely headed in. But as a strange sojourner, I feared that I might be judged and found wanting, and so stayed away. It was my problem.

I’ve heard many people say, “I’ll go to church when I get my life together.” I believe it actually works just the opposite: the act of worship, of being willing to be touched by God, of engaging in the power of confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, thanksgiving—these are the very things that make it possible for us to get our lives together.

I know I missed something important that day.

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Tagged as barriers to worship, church, mystery worship, Orthodox Church, theology

July 15, 2012 · 1:59 pm

A Twist on the Mystery Worship Series

Since early May, I’ve been writing a “Mystery Worship” series were I’ve been visiting different churches and offering my experiences on this blog.

Now, I discovered that in many ways, the church I serve, Krum First UMC, has been “Mystery Worshipped!” In late winter, I was contacted by a UNT journalism student who had been assigned to write a piece on the city of Krum. I think he emailed a number of people, but I was the only one who responded to him. We spent quite a bit of time together, he attended several worship services, and I put him in touch with some people who had deep roots here and knew much about Krum’s interesting history.

The results of his research was published recently in the Denton Record Chronicle and can be read here.

Mystery Worship Ten: Redeemer Presbyterian

For Mystery Worship Ten, I choose Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.

This church, begun in 1989 by a group of 15, had recently moved into its first permanent home ever. About 4500 people worship weekly at Redeemer now–with six different Sunday services.

At this link, you will find the history of this church.

Multiple greeters in the airy and light reception area welcomed me and directed me to a set of stairs which descended to the first floor of the worship area. I assume there is an elevator, but stairs are just a part of life in New York City.

The large, spare looking room featured descending levels furnished with pews. The pews curved around a large and unadorned stage on which sat a piano, altar table set with communion elements (cups in trays), a couple of microphones, a few simple chairs, and a music stand or two. No windows, as we were in a basement. Well lit–bright but unobtrusive lighting. No ornamentation-just basic functionality.

This area could seat at least 450; the balcony probably as many more, and both quickly filled. More could have been accommodated as there was still adequate personal space between people in the pews, but there were no gaping holes.

The extremely helpful and thorough worship bulletin included these words under the “Worship Etiquette” section:

We encourage parents to use the fully staffed nursery.
Please allow Ushers to seat you.
We appreciate your moving to the middle of the row, and avoiding using seats to store personal items to ensure space for visitors.
Seat saving is subject to the discretion of the Usher Captain and Redeemer Staff once the service begins.
Special seating is available to those with disabilities.

Also, during the announcements (about 10 minutes in), children from Kindergarten to the fifth grade are dismissed for children’s worship, but they must have been registered first. Parents pick up their children after the service.

This is serious crowd control–what a great problem to have!

The very traditional service was completely set out in the worship booklet: hymns, with music scores included, all readings, prayers and responses, along with space to take notes on the message. The very well-known Dr. Tim Keller was the preacher that day. He generally preaches at four of the six Sunday services, but no one knows ahead of time which services he will preach. There are two other teaching pastors on the staff and they all work from the same Scriptures and topics each week.

His message title, “The World Will Hate You,” came from the Matthew 10:5-25 passage where Jesus gives ministry instructions to his disciples, telling them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper and drive out demons. Jesus also reminds his followers that life is going to be tough–but that they will experience no trials greater than their Master will also experience.

Dr. Keller’s preaching style is relaxed, conversational, somewhat academic, yet clearly engaged with the lives of these New Yorkers who filled those hard, wooden seats. His almost pleading call for everyone there to be in mission and ministry made me suspect that they have the same problem many large churches do: lots of people in worship attendance, far fewer involved in hands-on transformational mission work.

Communion, with careful instructions about who may and may not receive the sacrament, a prayer of thanksgiving and benediction ended the 75 minute worship service. The crowds headed out, either onto the street, or to an upper floor for coffee and conversation.

I walked away, having very much enjoyed my time in there. Yet worship is not for my personal enjoyment, but for the glorification of God, for the hearing of God’s word, and for the change that takes place when the fallible, broken human comes more intentionally into the presence of the Holy One. I sensed that I had been given just that opportunity there, and received it gladly.

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Tagged as Dr. Tim Keller, mystery worship, New York City, Redeemer Presbyterian

June 19, 2012 · 6:15 am

Mystery Worship Seven

Note: this is part of an ongoing series. Mystery Worship One is here; Mystery Worship Two is here; Mystery Worship Three is here. Four is here. Five is here. Six is here.

Sunday, June 3, Trinity Sunday, was also the day of celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee. I toyed with attending worship at Westminster Abbey, where she was crowned, but decided against it and headed for the 11:30 Sung Eucharist at the historic and beautiful St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Arriving early after train, tube and ½ mile walk, I found Matins still in progress, but an usher suggested I sit in the back and move forward later.

Chairs: movable, hard molded plastic. A small kneeling cushion hangs on the back of them , but the rows are set so closely together that being able to kneel was problematic. The thorough service bulletin, intended for visitors with everything included, indicated we would stand during most of the service and only in one spot was kneeling even suggested. Practicality rules!

The seating area was a long way from full, but I would guess about five or six hundred in attendance. What sounded like three Anglican priests on vacation seated themselves behind me and conversed jovially before the service began. The one immediately behind me, as it turned out, had a very nice and full singing voice, making it easy for me to follow the hymns.

We stood for the Processional as numerous priests, deacons, acolytes and choir came in. Priests were quite royally robed in gold, deacons in red, choir in white over black cassocks. No boys choir today, but the Vicars Choral sounded wonderful.

Before the service started, the priests behind me noted that the sound system was quite problematic and mentioned some impossible sum to try to fix it. Yep, definitely problematic. Every time someone spoke, itself hard to hear, a soft buzzing sound accompanied the words along with an echo. Tough on hearing challenged people.

The service itself was lovely, perfectly orchestrated, and exquisitely sung. The message was a nicely done Trinity Sunday sermon with the primary illustration of the human inability to actually comprehend God likened to that of an oyster trying to describe a ballerina. Just can’t be done, but God has chosen to become small in the person of Jesus so we very limited humans might gain some entrance into the mystery.

Any baptised person who regularly receives communion in home churches was invited to receive the sacrament. Multiple stations around the nave, plus well-trained ushers made for an orderly and quick reception. Gluten-free wafers were also available.

I seated myself for the ten minute Organ Voluntary (Praeludium in G major) after the final blessing and Recessional, but most people left before it was over. By that time, the idea of finding the loo held great appeal, so I approached a female usher and made my request. Her response: “Yes, of course, but you still must leave the building, and go along to the left down to the crypt.”

I walked out and turned left. About 80 yards away, I saw a small door at ground level. After two sets of stairs, I turned left again, followed people into the double door entry and found myself in a large cafe with a gift shop. Feeling sure my goal was near, I wandered through the cafe until I found the welcoming sign and joined the long queue of women who had arrived before I, waiting patiently for one of the six tiny stalls. Apparently, that is the total number of available facilities for this necessary function in the entirely of St. Paul’s. Oh my. And heaven help the physically handicapped.

As beautiful as the service was, it left me cold. Earlier this week, I had attended a noon Eucharist at an old, beat up mouse-infested church where the worship area is turned into a homeless shelter each evening. There, I had sensed the power of God. Here, I saw the power of humanity. But I left determined to walk the 528 steps to the top of the dome!

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Tagged as Eucharist, mystery worship, St. Paul's Cathedral London

June 11, 2012 · 6:10 am

Mystery Worship Six

Note: this is part of an ongoing series. Mystery Worship One is here; Mystery Worship Two is here; Mystery Worship Three is here. Four is here. Five is here.

Reasons for Choice of Church

From the time I made the decision to spend part of the Sabbatical in the London area, I’ve wanted to visit Holy Trinity Brompton church. This is the Anglican church that birthed the ALPHA course, a really wonderful way to explore the Christian faith in an atmosphere that is safe for questions and uncertainty.

I checked their website, http://www.htb.org.uk/, and saw that they now worship at three different locations (all quite close to one another) and one of those locations offered a Thursday 12:30 pm Communion service with a light lunch afterward.

So, Thursday May 31, I made a hasty decision to go ahead and catch a train to London and worship there. I also knew I was probably going to have trouble finding the place.

Here are the directions from the website:

By Bus

The following bus routes go past HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onlsow Square and HTB Queen’s Gate: 14, 49, 74, 211, 345, 414, C1.

The stop name and numbers are:

HTB Brompton Road – Victoria and Albert Museum, Westbound (N), Eastbound(M)

HTB Onslow Square – Brompton Street / Fulham Road, Westbound (HP), Eastbound (HM)

HTB Queen’s Gate – South Kensington Station, Westbound (S or T), Eastbound (E). Take Harrington Road, then left onto Queen’s Gate.

By Tube

HTB Brompton Road is equidistant between South Kensington and Knightsbridge underground stations.

The nearest tube to HTB Onslow Square, HTB Queen’s Gate and 5-7 Cromwell Road is South Kensington.

They give no street numbers, no post code (each place has a distinct post code number that is used by GPS). Just this vague, “HTB Queens Gate” followed by what is to me mumbo jumbo.

After some searching on Google, I finally found a street address: 117 Queens Gate.

And the more I searched for directions, the more confused I became.

So I just got on a train to London and hoped for the best.

Initial Impressions

After much confusion, multiple requests for help, a desperation use of my IPhone (international data is very expensive), a cup of tea at a corner tea shop where I realized too late that milk had been added (I am seriously lactose intolerant), I finally arrived at the church.

All this to say: not an auspicious start to the day.

I walked in about 15 minutes early. A group of women and children were sitting on beat up couches and talking near the back of the very large worship space. One immediately detached herself and greeted me, asking if I had come to worship. She mentioned that they were getting set up and would start soon. I inquired about the toilets and she directed me, apologizing for the construction and saying, “They are rather basic, I’m afraid.” Well, if “basic” means unisex, ancient and tiny, she was right, but I was nonetheless grateful.

I came back to the worship center, and asked the same young woman where I should sit, and she suggested that I sit near the front for this service. I complied, sitting on the third row, near the outside edge. The room was set up for about 250, but could easily hold 600 if maxed out.

Still early, I began to look around. The chairs were basic, wooden, uncushioned, uncomfortable chairs. Scarred wooden floor. No kneeling cushions. The church, I found out later, had been built in the mid 1800’s and designed by well-known architect William Butterfield, a gothic revival architect, and it had all the elements of a gothic church, very high ceiling, ornate tiled walls, two small chapels on either side of the huge, huge main altar area, extremely ornate reredos (altarpiece). And worn out looking. Just worn down–and seemed dirty, unpolished, uncared for.

Above is a photo of the church taken by Pete Reed before the pews were removed and replaced by chairs so the room could serve multiple purposes.

At a couple of minutes before the service was to begin, only about 12 of us were there.

I learned later that there is an organ, but couldn’t see it from where I sat. A pianist sat down at the piano near my seat and began playing.

I looked at the order of service which offered a modern liturgy with two songs, words given in a separate sheet, no hymnals, no screens.

The Curate, a woman in her 40’s with bright red stripes in her hair, welcomed us and suggested people move closer as there was no amplification at the moment.

I was not feeling good about this.

The Kingdom of Heaven Opens

And then she led the way into the kingdom of heaven. By then, there were about 50 in attendance. Wonderful acoustic, and the 50 voices singing sounded like many, many more as we acknowledged the faithfulness of God in “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

The Curate offered a simple but eloquent message about a breakfast she had been to that morning with Brother Yun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Yun) a former prisoner in China where he had been arrested for being a Christian and leading many to Christ. He has a miraculous story of escape that has captivated many. She also told several other stories of people to whom Jesus had appeared and made Himself known.

As I listened, I found my soul both quieted and comforted with the knowledge that God will indeed bring about the work of redeeming the world. I have a place in that process, but I am not the redeemer, just the steward of the gifts God has given me to serve in the kingdom of heaven.

After the message, we engaged in the communion liturgy and heard the invitation to come forward along with instructions for receiving the Sacrament. After we had all received, the Curate announced that although the service was over, some might want to stay for prayer. There was no hurry. We were to take as long as we needed.

The pianist began to play, and I sat there, both unable and unwilling to move. A few went to the kneeling rails at the altar. One woman went to the other side of the table and began to dance and to practice the art of adoration.

Many of us, including me, began to weep quietly, as we received peace, the peace that passes all understanding, pouring out on us. I have no idea how long I sat there, nor did I care. Something was happening there and I had no wish to leave.

Conversations

Eventually, I made my way to the back where people were getting tea and coffee, sandwiches, biscuits and fruit. I was offered a cup of tea, and picked up a clementine, and sat on a couch watching others in quiet and relaxed conversation. I was alone, but felt no loneliness.

When I went to put the paper cup and napkin in the trash, I noticed another woman about my age also alone, and approached her for conversation. She’s been coming to this service for about four weeks and found it meaningful. She said that she understood the original congregation was down to about 15 people two years ago when the offer came to merge what was then St. Augustine’s Anglican Church with Holy Trinity Brompton. All she knew was that new life had come back in.

We talked a while about gardening and she gave me instructions for getting to Hyde Park where I hoped to walk for a while later and also told me which bus number to look for to get back to Victoria Station later. I was immensely grateful for her help with those instructions!

Shortly after that, the Curate finished her many other conversations and approached me and we began to talk. She’d been working with Holy Trinity Brompton for many years, but leaped at the chance to begin the ministry here when the opportunity arose. Her own background is high church Anglo-Catholic worship, which is what the church had been doing for 160 years. She gave me more details: the congregation was down to eight (not fifteen), and the building in terrible disrepair. Now, the Anglo-Catholic morning service sees about 200 each Sunday and the afternoon more contemporary Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) style sees about 250 on Sunday afternoons. They are not two churches: they are two congregations and have committed themselves to working together despite huge, huge differences in theology and in worship styles. They believe the peace of God must rule and that unity (not uniformity or unanimity) must remain the goal.

She said they are dealing with a sadly neglected structure (that was pretty obvious) and they had just discovered a few weeks ago a giant mouse infestation, along with a leaky roof. I asked how the repairs are funded and she said “The generosity of the congregation. We do NOT teach tithing–that would be too small an amount for many. We just present the needs and ask people to give as they feel God would have them do so.”

I noticed a bunch of scarred wooden tables pushed up against the walls and she said that they had set up for a luncheon for 300 yesterday, which is fairly common. They also feed the homeless a hot meal each evening and bed them down for the night in this same space. The meal is cooked at another location as the mouse-ridden kitchen of the current location is not usable for this ministry.

I said, “Something is unusual about this space.” Her response, “Yes, the Holy Spirit is upon us.”

Yes, it was and is.

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Filed under church, clergy, faith, food, heaven, Kingdom of Heave, sacrament, Uncategorized

Tagged as Alpha Course, feeding homeless, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity Bromfield, mystery worship

May 28, 2012 · 3:16 am

Mystery Worship Four

Note: this is part of an ongoing series. Mystery Worship One is here; Mystery Worship Two is here; Mystery Worship Three is here.

Sunday, May 20, 2012, brought me to the Chiltern Church,described on their website as an independent, evangelical church with a heritage from the Plymouth Brethren Church. I chose this church for one simple reason: I could walk there. Nearly every other church in the area is a good two mile hike over very hilly streets. This one was a simple 1/2 mile stroll over fairly level ground. Because I was walking, I wore fairly casual clothes, but not jeans, and walking shoes. Dress was fine–church very casual.

The service turned out to be quite challenging for me, although I’ve not yet been able to pinpoint why.

The facility is located right in the middle of a very nice residential area and looks very much like the houses surrounding it, which makes sense as it was originally a house in the neighborhood. Only real difference is the larger front garden (I have become very British in my terms already here!) which is fully gravelled and could hold 12 cars.

According to the website, the service began at 10:45 and also that lots of provisions had been made for children and youth activity. The service did actually begin at 10:47 and very much fulfilled the promise of paying attention to younger people.

I had arrived at 10:38, and was greeted warmly at the front door and handed a Bible along with printed announcements. No bulletin or order of worship included. The worship space could hold at most 120 people and was comfortably set up with movable chairs (wooden with small cushions). No hymnals, screen placed with very good sight lines. I sat near the back on the far right–no aisle next to me, just a wall.

At 10:47, the worship leader, Barry, greeted us with a cheery “Good morning!” made several announcements and then invited us to stand. At this point, the worship center was about 1/2 full, but within the next few moments, went to about 75 or 80% full.

Before the service started, a woman named Helen came over and introduced herself but other than that, people just talked with each other and paid no attention to me.

Music was lead by a worship team, but couldn’t see exactly what was there. Definitely a keyboard, possibly percussion, and two voices, one male, the worship leader who wore a lapel microphone, and a female, whom I had to strain to see. The sound was not well balanced–the female vocalist had inadequate amplification, and the worship leader’s voice had too much. Words to songs were on screen–fine when I knew the tune, but, as usual, problematic when I don’t.

After the first song the leader, Barry, seated everyone and immediately launched into a long object lesson that was part children/part adult lesson using an arrow in a bottle to indicate how God leads when we make God first. After that, we were told (not invited) to stand and to do the motions to “Our God is a Great Big God.” I did stand but declined to do the motions. After that song, the smaller children left for their time. Barry told us we’d sing two more and then the youth would also be dismissed for their separate time.

During the songs, whose titles I can’t remember and whose lyrics were unfamiliar to me, I began to consider the words of many of our hymns and worship songs and how confusing and strange they must seem to the person who has not heard this kind of language for years. I am beginning to think we should explain each song before we sing it so the words actually have meaning and purpose.

After the two songs, at 11:07, Barry went into a lengthy explanation of the purpose and meaning of prayer and then told us we should plan on praying aloud or silently or whatever seemed best for the next five to ten minutes.

I found myself getting alarmed by his explanation–what was going to expected of me? I really hate forced group prayer–times when I’ve been told “gather into groups of two or three and each of you offer prayers about such and such.” Fortunately, that experience was not on the radar, and we just went quietly into a time of prayer. The woman next to me was the first to speak verbally, and she uttered a lovely prayer of thanksgiving. Several other women followed (maybe this is the only time their voices can be heard?) and then finally one male voice piped up. Barry took it from there and closed it a few minutes later. No Lord’s Prayer offered.

One more song, during which the offering was taken and the bags brought forward and handed, almost surreptitiously, to Barry. No formal presentation of the money to God, no words to indicate the act of offering being an act of worship. Visitors were told they were under no obligation to give (I put in some cash anyway).

Barry seated us and then gave us a page number in our Bibles and read, quite exquisitely I must say, Matthew 4:1-10, the story of the temptation of Jesus.

At the point, 11:25, the minister, Dave Hitchcock, walked from the back and stepped up on the platform and behind the small lectern there. He also offered a hearty “Good Morning” and then spent the next ten minutes talking about honoring someone who had been a long time servant of the church but who only leaving his ministry position and not the church. Here is where the insider language became so challenging to me. He referred several times to Janet and what she would do and to Brian and how hard he had worked. All true, all utterly incomprehensible to me and very dis-connecting.

Dave finally got to the message about 11:35. On the screen was sinister black and white photo of a blurred man in the background holding out in front of him a large apple. That image stayed the entire time of the message as the pastor spoke about our enemies. The word “Enemies” was in large font to the right and top of the image, and the words Passion, Position and Possessions appeared in conjunction with the pastor’s explanation that the temptation of Jesus was along the line of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

The message seemed to be well delivered, but lacked depth and good preparation time. Lots of illustrations, but never could quite figure out what he hoped would be the response.

He finished at 11:55 and Barry came up again to lead us in “Be Thou my Vision” with multiple stanzas I’ve never seen before. We were dismissed and invited to stay for coffee and I thought it was time to go, but suddenly, everyone sat down. Dave came strolling down the center aisle. Then people just turned to each other and began to talk.

A Pakistani woman seated next to me turned to me and introduced herself and we had a nice chat. I asked why people didn’t get up at this point, and she seemed confused at the question. A couple of others near me introduced themselves and then I decided to skip the coffee hour and head out. As I neared the front entrance, the friendly greeter who had originally given me a Bible asked if I were a visitor and said “Would you please sign the visitors’ book so I don’t get in trouble?” He said it with a genuine, inviting smile, and I happily complied. Another gentleman spoke with me for a few minutes and then as I left, the pastor was at the door and we chatted a few minutes. After thanking him for the time of worship, I “outed” myself and told him who I was. I may be reading a little too much into this, but he did seem to visibly cool when I mentioned I was a pastor. Oh well.

Additional points:

The nearly invisible female vocalist was the only woman with any role in worship leadership. This is not surprising given the theological heritage (Plymouth Brethren) of the church, but it had been a while since I’d been in a church where women were so invisible and it certainly spoke to me in an uncomfortable way. I remember one time several years ago at the church where I serve when we also had a female director of music. On one particular day, the liturgist was also a female, as were the greeters and acolytes. One visitor, who never returned, mentioned, “Gosh, this church only has women in leadership.” Not the case, but it certainly looked like it. We need to watch the message given by those in visible leadership roles.

There was no congregational response to the reading of God’s Word. This is normal to non-liturgical churches, but I noticed how much it bothered me not to stand for the Gospel reading and also not to acknowledge that reading with words of thanksgiving.

I was also intrigued to note that while the worship leader got the more flexible lapel microphone, the pastor had to be content with a fixed microphone on a stand. No moving around for him! I just have a feeling this is also part of a hidden power play there–something was just wrong.

As for Dave, the minister: One of the things he did was show the “Wrong Worship CD Infomercial,” a funny parody of contemporary worship songs where the focus goes from God totally to self. This video has been around for a while and is quite well done. But it is over three minutes long, and needed to be edited to less then 90 seconds. Just took too long. Dave was clearly quite unsure about the technology before showing the video, and either needs to learn to use it, or to make sure that whoever is going to be using it knows what is going on–and how to edit down lengthy videos. By the time the video was over, I think many had attention elsewhere.

As I listened to Dave, I also noticed he told several self-deprecating jokes and poked a lot of fun at himself. Normally, when I either do that or am in a space where it is done, there’s a lot of genuine audience response and good connection built. But something just seemed very off here. I have to be careful here and respect that I’m worshipping with a lot of reserved Brits, but . . . it almost seemed as though there was some floating hostility toward Dave. At the very least, an unwillingness to enter into the story with him. I remember feeling very, very troubled by it.

Very simply, I personally would not return there, primarily because of the vibes I picked up. I wish I could be more explicit about it, but can’t find the words to explain it other than I was spiritually uncomfortable there. This past Sunday’s venture brought me to the Chiltern Church, http://www.chilternchurch.org.uk/, described on their website as an independent, evangelical church with a heritage from the Plymouth Brethren Church. I chose this church for one simple reason: I could walk there. Nearly every other church in the area is a good two mile hike over very hilly streets. This one was a simple 1/2 mile stroll over fairly level ground. Because I was walking, I wore fairly casual clothes, but not jeans, and walking shoes. Dress was fine–church very casual.

The church is located right in the middle of a very nice residential area and looks very much like the houses surrounding it. Only real difference is the larger car park (I have become very British in my terms already here!) which is gravelled and could hold 12 cars.

At 10:47, the worship leader greeted us with a cheery “Good morning!” made several announcements and then invited us to stand. At this point, the worship center was about 1/2 full, but within the next few moments, went to about 75 or 80% full.

Before the service started, a woman named Helen came over and introduced herself but other than that, people just talked with each other and paid no attention to me.

Music was led by a worship team, but couldn’t see exactly what was there. Definitely a keyboard, possibly percussion, and two voices, one male, the worship leader who wore a lapel microphone, and a female, whom I had to strain to see. The sound was not well-balanced–the female vocalist had inadequate amplification, and the worship leader’s voice had too much. Words on-screen–fine when I knew the tune, but, as usual, problematic when I don’t.

After the first song the leader, Barry, seated everyone and immediately launched into a long object lesson that was part children/part adult lesson. After that, we were told (not invited) to stand and to do the motions to “Our God is a Great Big God.” I did stand but declined to do the motions. After that song, the smaller children left for their time. Barry told us we’d sing two more and then the youth would also be dismissed for their separate time.

After the two songs, at 11:07, Barry went into a long explanation of the purpose and meaning of prayer and then told us we should plan on praying aloud or silently or whatever seemed best for the next five to ten minutes.

One more song, during which the offering was taken and the bags brought forward and handed, almost under the table, to Barry. No formal presentation of the money to God, no words to indicate the act of offering being an act of worship. Visitors were told they were under no obligation to give (I put in some cash anyway).

Barry seated us and then gave us a page number in our Bibles and read, quite exquisitely I must say, Matthew 4:1-10, the story of the temptation of Jesus.

At the point, 11:25, the minister, Dave Hitchcock walked forward and stepped up on the platform and behind the small lectern there. He also offered a hearty “Good Morning” and then spent the next ten minutes talking about honoring someone who had been a long time servant of the church. Here is where the insider language became so challenging to me. He referred several times to Janet and what she would do and to Brian and how hard he had worked. All true, all utterly incomprehensible to me and very dis-connecting.

The message seemed to be well delivered, but lacked depth and good preparation time. Lots of illustrations, but never could quite figure out what he hoped would be the response.

Additional points:

I was also intrigued to note that while the worship leader got the easier to use lapel mic, the pastor has to be content with a fixed mic on a stand. No moving around for him! I just have a feeling this is also part of a hidden power play there–something was just wrong.

As for Dave, the minister: One of the things he did was show the “Wrong Worship CD Infomercial,” a funny parody of contemporary worship songs where the focus goes from God totally to self. This video has been around a while and is quite well done. But it is over three minutes long, and needed to be edited to less then 90 seconds. Just took too long. He was clearly quite unsure about the technology before showing the video, and either needs to learn to use it, or to make sure that whoever is going to be using it knows what is going on–and how to edit down lengthy videos. By the time the video was over, I think many had minds elsewhere.

As I listened to Dave, I also noticed he told several self-depreciating jokes and poked a lot of fun at himself. Normally, when I either do that or am in a space where it is done, there’s a lot of genuine audience response and good connection built. But something just seemed very off here. I have to be careful here and respect that I’m worshipping with a lot of reserved Brits, but . . . it almost seemed as though there was some floating hostility toward Dave. At the very least, an unwillingness to enter into the story with him. I remember feeling very, very troubled by it.

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Filed under church, hidden agenda, worship

Tagged as Bible, clergy, hostility, hymns, liturgy, mystery worship

May 15, 2012 · 4:43 am

Mystery Worship Two

For Mystery Worship Number Two, I picked the Sunday Evening Contemporary Worship service at Park Avenue United Methodist Church on the upper east side of New York City,

After an afternoon near midtown, I arrived by taxi about 6:15 pm for 6:30 worship.. I found the doors of the church wide open with a greeter there ready to say hi and offer me a simple order of worship. The bulletin was simple, one/half sheet, printed in color.

Like many churches in NYC, the building is just one of many offices, restaurants, shopping and residential spots all right next to each other. There was a banner perpendicular to the building high off the street to help me identify my destination. It would have been easy to have missed it otherwise, even with looking closely for it.

This church was founded in 1837, and the current facility built in 1926, designed by the same architect who designed the famed and elegant Riverside Church on the West Side. They originally owned the apartment complex next door and hoped to use that to secure their financial future, but had to sell it in the Great Depression.

Inside, I found a lovely traditional church, not terribly comfortable dark wooden pews, elegant chancel area, soaring ceilings with arches along the side. I did not get a look at the full facility, the restrooms or the children’s areas. However, their website indicates a day school there, so I would assume excellent facilities for the little ones. More description of the sanctuary and its historic design can be found on the church website here.

I entered to the sound of the worship team (piano, guitar, two vocalists) in rehearsal. Drawn by the music, I seated myself near the front of the nearly empty space. I also noticed the screen there would be too small to see well from the back.

The lead female vocalist was spectacular in rehearsal, offering clear soprano sounds like droplets cascading over a beautiful waterfall. Just being in those moments settled my soul.

With a sanctuary that would easily seat 280, only about 15 to 20 were at worship, mostly young, racially diverse.

Before worship formally began, The Rev. Mandy Iahn, Associate Pastor and the Celebrant for the service, came to me and introduced herself and offered another warm welcome to this time.

We began with a few moments of silence to find our internal quiet and centering spaces. Then the worship team lead forth and did not disappoint. Words for the contemporary Christian worship songs were displayed on the small screen.

Unfortunately, they don’t have good projection hardware or software, and could not move seamlessly from song to song, song to Scripture, or song to the video that began the message. Technology should support worship, but be essentially invisible otherwise or it breaks the flow of the service, which is exactly what happened here.

The message and video centered on the human theme of “What have you done for me lately?” Rev. Iahn has picked various pieces of pop music to see how they speak to us and how they may be used as bridges to the Holy One.

In her message, she reminded us of our tendency to insist that God do for us what we want, without being mindful of the love that God is always pouring out on humankind. I noticed that she read the sermon. She read well, not woodenly, but clearly tied to her script.

After the message, Rev. Iahn led us in a short, contemporary Service of Holy Communion (no general confession or pardon), and all were invited to partake of the elements. Afterward, we prayed together a modern version of The Lord’s Prayer, beginning with “Our Father and Mother in Heaven.”

A final, and especially lovely piece of music, followed encouraging contemplation of the Holy One, and then we were dismissed with the request that we pass the peace and greet one another on the way out.

At this time, I was able to meet the Senior Pastor, The Rev. Dr. Cathy Gilliard, as well as others and I enjoyed the conversation time.

After meeting Dr. Gilliard, I was told that morning worship features a full choir and traditional liturgy and learned a little more about the mission of the church. They are engaging in a challenging ministry in a community that does not have much interest in any kind of worship or practices that lead to spiritual growth or renewed intimacy with God. A tough calling.

A few critiques:

The website has much great information about the church, but needs some tweaks.. On the Mac I am using to access the Internet, some of the pages show fonts that are hard to read, the announcement page and the calendar page don’t show.

As I mentioned above, the projection technology needs work. The service itself is lovely, but people drawn to contemporary music also have high expectations of the technology used to support it, and those expectations were not met.

Would I return? Yes, the welcome was warm and the language familiar and the theology more my own. I think most of us are drawn to the familiar in worship which is one of the reasons churches have such a difficult time adjusting to changing times. I know I enjoyed it more than I did the morning service I wrote about here although they were similar in form and the morning service had several other advantages.

So more than anything, it was the comfort of the language that spoke to me. This is going to be the ongoing challenge of those who want to invite people into the experience of worship: if the language and customs and rituals are extremely foreign to those coming for the first time, it us unlikely they will return. Just not worth the effort to learn a completely different language to participate. And with fewer and fewer children and teens being exposed to some of the Latin terms and archaic grammatical constructions of many of the more traditional hymns, fewer will have any comfort with those forms.

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Filed under language, technology, welcome, worship

Tagged as archaic worship language, language of ritual, mystery worship, worship projection technology

May 13, 2012 · 9:02 am

Mystery Worship One

From May through July, I shall use part of my Sabbatical to visit various churches and record my experiences there.

My first venture was to Apostles Church, on the Upper East Side in New York City. This choice was easy, as both my NYC sons and families attend there. They willingly agreed with my walking in alone so I would be noticed as a first time visitor.

A fifteen minute stroll from the west side of Central Park to the east side brought us to 85th street and a sandwich sign announcing that a church met within (we were at a private high school).

It was 10:34 and I followed the music to the auditorium. A young greeter at the door ignored me but I received a tiny information/attendance card from someone else and seated myself.

An excellent, large worship team of musicians and vocalists played contemporary Christian music on the stage. A screen to the left of the stage was not high enough for me to see easily.

The room gradually filled. A worship leader welcomed us and beautifully read a scripture.

At 10:45, we sing again. A primarily white, young group, I was clearly the oldest there by at least 20 years. Seeing the younger people was wonderful, and probably the reason that I have been pretty invisible. I need to sit down, but sitting means no hope at all of seeing the screen.

At 10:54, the pastor introduced himself and the sermon series on the attributes of God. The major theme is “The Search for Transcendence.” He reminded us that most are practical atheists, with inadequate views of God, and often reject the god we’ve made up in our minds without ever having taken the time to explore the transcendent God.

The pastor took us through multiple scriptures in this overview of the series. In a well prepared and well delivered message, he offered excellent examples of the difference between knowing about something and actually knowing something intimately, first hand.

Although many of the scriptures he used were on the screen, the poor sight lines continually challenged me to stay on track.

After the final prayer, communion was served. There were no words of institution or consecration or indication of who might receive, just a general invitation to go to one of the serving stations (including a gluten-free station) around the room.

After communion, offering baskets were passed. I realized that this is where I should have placed my attendance/visitors info card, but didn’t have time to fill it out now.

The service ended about noon by a worship leader. The noise level shifted to a new high as people began lively conversations with each other. However, no one introduced themselves to me.

I wandered to the back entrance, shook hands with the pastor who thanked me for coming, and stood in the lobby alone watching the action. Eventually, a nice young woman came to offer words of welcome and history of the church.

Back in the auditorium, I saw children racing around. The kid’s area is on the third floor of the building, where I did not go. I saw that each child had a sticker on his/her back indicating name, parent, contact, etc. Those still in diapers also had a bright red, “I’ve been Changed” sticker on top if a diaper change had been performed.

I joined in conversation with my sons, mentioned the problems with the sight lines and my relative invisibility as an older person, which didn’t seem to shock them.

So, I ask this question: would I go back there? Yes, with invitation from someone I knew. Otherwise, no. Worship was good, sermon and music excellent, but I am not the demographic they seek, and that is OK. They are excelling in their mission, and I do best to support that from afar. Very grateful I was there.

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