Hey,
It occurred to me that just about all of us are in different churches and in different roles. I thought it would be interesting to compare notes on where we worshipped this week - good, bad, indifferent...
At my church, we had lay leaders do the message. I realized that I've gotten so used to sermons not being read from the pulpit that when it happens, it affects how I receive it. The words aren't any less sincere or enlightening, just not memorized. I probably need to be more gracious about that.
One of the speakers referenced a scene from the movie "Sex & the City" without saying the title which I thought was funny. We have the children play percussion instruments with the praise band before they go off to their own worship. There's one little guy that can rock a cowbell like no other!
Anyone else have things they wanted to share about their worship service? Thanks, Alli.
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A group of Christians in and around Albuquerque, NM that are asking old questions in a new way.
Get Together
We generally meet the 3rd Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm at the Fuddrucker's in Coronado mall.
For more info please see our facebook group page.
For more info please see our facebook group page.
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3 comments:
Thank you, Alli, for posting a discussion! I visited Trinity United Methodist this last Sunday and was pleased to witness Melissa Madara in action on the pulpit. I have been, since I started attending church in 2004, more used to contemporary, evangelical, powerpoint screen, drums and guitar type of services and Trinity took be back to our more traiditional roots, and it was like visiting an old friend, or a place I'd hadn't seen in a while. I really enjoyed it.
A wonderful message of "Wandering With God," being in His presence, knowing He dwells with us even when it's difficult to realize it, and the concept of God wandering WITH the Israelites (even with His own tent) was something I hadn't heard exactly like Melissa presented it -- and I loved it. In addition, the incredible love I felt from the congregation made the whole experience a beautiful "side excursion" from my "home" church in Edgewood. I'm looking forward to visiting again. It felt very comfortable and genuine. I have a heart for senior citizens and the high percentage of that demographic attending Trinity was a pleasure to be around, especially seeing them sing in the choir together.
It was my very first Methodist experience, and it was good!
Troy
This Sunday I had the privilege of switching places with my wife Melissa. While I serve Trinity UMC in Albuquerque (where Troy attended this week) I preached and presided over communion at Asbury UMC this week, while Melissa took a turn at Trinity.
It probably goes without saying that Asbury is right now in the midst of "the perfect storm" of challenges facing a church. Blatant mismanagement by previous staff and church leaders has contributed to financial and personality crises among the current leadership, as well as an exodus of church-goers (as Alli mentioned, there is now an "Asbury group" at St. John's.)
Nonetheless, I found some wonderful signs of hope and rebirth at Asbury. I had a wonderful time preaching with a screen and using images to help convey the message. I also loved doing an informal communion ceremony, talking about God's forgivenes for us, and watching some folks really praying hard about forgiveness.
There are signs of struggle and signs of rebirth at Asbury. The church is now in the difficult time of soul-searching and rethinking itself. Yet even in the midst of this struggle, the Holy Spirit was strongly present. I trust and pray that the church will emerge over the next few years stronger than it was before.
A couple of weeks ago the East Mountain area experienced a very broad electrical outage for a 24 hour period. I called the pastor of our church at VVCC early Sunday morning, knowing that our worship time would be different without electricity (this particular week I was one of the ones responsible for leading in congregational worship), and chose songs that people could more easily remember apart from the normal powerpoint screen from which we usually were able to see the words.
We ended up playing with one acoustic guitar, a djembe drum, and the un-miked voices of the worship team, unplugged if you will. I so enjoyed being "right with" the other singers by way of proximity while we were singing and worshiping, and we could easily hear the rest of the congregation doing the same.
When the pastor came up to address the congregation, he seemed less oratorally geared and much of what he said seemed to get through better to me, and I would guess it was because I wasn't as put-off by the oratory skills he has and I listened more intently as I was almost sure he was relating to us all in a more genuine way (at least it came across this way to me).
I would say that what seemed to draw me, moreso than usual, into this worship experience had to do with the service's freshness, simplicity, more apparent authenticity, and a more noticeable awareness of being together with others and feeling less distanced from them.
I tend to experience more of God especially through others, and I'm not sure that I'm all that convinced that the typical contemporary evangelical sevice lends itself very well to this notion that I have.
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