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A Worshipping, Praying, Learning, Nurturing, Sharing Community |
Jan 06, 2009 - 11:57 AM |
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What is your vision of this “new kind of church”? What are folks looking for in a church?
How about a community of liturgy? That is a community built around the public work of the people, which comes from the Greek leitourgia: a public work or service, sort of like community service. In the New Testament this was specifically work or service of the priests, or a ministry of the laity for the temple or church. (See Luke 1:23 or Heb. 8:6)
As Lutheran Christians we are a people of the liturgy in our worship and in our public lives. We see and experience a connection between the “work” we do on Sundays during worship and our lives in the public arena. Unfortunately, the public is not getting the connection, nor are they getting fed and in-spirited for public service. What is it we do on Sundays in worship that connects to the rest of our daily lives? We pray, sing, dance, play, study, interact, love, listen, talk, think and feel, etc But sometimes an outsider doesn’t see this in our service. We often appear to worship from the head up and in rote or robot style.
Based on the movie “Pleasantville”, which we viewed in worship, one might ask are we worshipping in tones of gray or in full Technicolor? The Worship and Music team would like to suggest a more color-filled liturgy for us to try. A service which includes more room to experience with all our senses and our whole body movement, and art, and dance, and discussion, and interaction, and space for the Spirit to fill us and move us, to experience love and share love, to ponder and reflect on the Word of God, to connect our social/political lives with our spiritual lives. We are proposing to open-up the liturgy, to make it easier to participate with others, to do more heart-felt spirit-filled movement and singing. So here is what we introducing in small increments:
* A new arrangement of the chairs to see each other more clearly and feel more like a small group, a bit less formal.
* A service without paper, except for a handout that welcomes worshippers, tells about NCLC, has the Word of God for the day, our statement of faith, and the life of the community for the week (i.e. announcements)
* A service that takes two offerings!!! The usual one to support the life of the congregation, and a mission outreach bucket – see Marilyn’s article in this newsletter.
* A service that sings and listens and discusses God’s Word in small group seating, and then prays and shares Christ’s meal around the table.
* A service that contains a resident artist drawing God’s Word, a prayer chapel for reflection time, a movie clip, an activity table, discussion time, etc.
* And for the summer, an open letter from a member reflecting the Letters from Paul which are part of the lessons.
The intent of this experiential liturgy is to fill us with the Holy Spirit, so that we can’t help but tell our friends & neighbors about our “work” and invite them to join us. And hopefully we are still humming the songs all through the week. This is an emerging work of the Spirit in our midst.
Pastor Anne
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