This is a call for those interested in forming an alternative worship experience Wednesday evenings this fall, one that expresses a more embodied and ecumenical space for spirituality as compared to Sunday morning worship.
We know that for some Sunday morning is inaccessible because they work weekends, or they need the weekend to recover from their work week. For others, Sunday morning has barriers because it's too creedal, too grounded in hymsn and texts that may not match where they are in the life of faith, and for still others a midweek service is an opportunity to gather for worship more than once, not just Sunday but also midweek.
I've been visioning a radical alternative Wednesday evenings. I've been doing some historical retrieval work of late, trying to learn from past experiments in progressive faith community. I'm inspired by the Political Evensong Dorothee Soelle and others organized in Germany in the 70s. I'm thinking also of forms of worship that focus on the body. Think yoga but with a bit more direct religious content.
I'm also inspired by communities who have been organizing "dinner church" where the focus of worship is the preparation and sharing of a meal to feed the body.
Finally, I'm intrigued by the idea of an overtly Christian faith community like ours hosting a space for spirituality that doesn't feel exclusive and can readily be attended by those of other religious traditions or none at all.
Does this intrigue you? Would you be interested in a Wednesday gathering that bodies forth some or all of this? I'd love to hear thoughts from the wider community. In October we'll likely put together a core team, anticipating a launch during Advent (December).
I'm been toying with calling the evening "The Body." Think "embodied faith," but also "the body politic" and if the worship has a progressive bent perhaps it's also engaging forms of resistance to abuse of the body (think of how the word "corporate" is etymologically from the word body, and how the existence of corporations has distorted our sense of the body).
I also like the concept of focusing on "Being Human" since one good and less gendered translation of "Son of Man" in the New Testament is "The Human One." So a community spiritually considering together how to be fully human.
We're meeting this Wednesday the 5th at GSLC at 6:30 p.m. and/or Thursday at noon. Choose either and join us. RSVP please to let us know you're attending.
For readers of this blog in other locales, tell us about your own practices in faith community that might inspire us!
Intriguing. So...a kind of Wed evening worship as "Sunday Lite"...? Same great taste, but less "filling" (though no less _fulfilling_!)... I like the outline Rev. Shipman shared, and thinking about that plus Clint's posting, I started musing on a sort of hybrid "Service + Fellowship" experience? One possible format:
A structured beginning: welcoming song/music, greeting & welcome, prayer/blessing, a scripture reading.
So the interesting part here is the "middle": based on the scripture reading/lesson (or a specific topic, issue, or community concern, etc.), there would be a guided (moderated) participatory roundtable/active discussion...a time for sharing, consoling, listening, understanding. Not an open free-for-all, but operating by a simple framework or set of rules for participation (for those who wish to). Think part Quaker Meeting, part Group Therapy(!), part good old fashioned Lutheran basement "fellowship"...something like that.
Followed by a structured conclusion: offering, confession, closing prayer, sending song/music.
I'm sure this is not a new idea by any stretch! It just seems like something that would meet (some) of what Clint was getting at...maybe... :)
Here is a proposed outline of worship that I'm considering. Wanting to revive (the body) and unshackle from older expressions but still hold to the patterns. One member, who tried to worship "elsewhere", mentioned that they missed the Lord's Prayer, Eucharist, etc. So we have some things that have become barriers to entry but are magnets for liturgical folks.
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re:Fresh Worship @ Emanuel Lutheran Church, Blackfoot, ID
Welcoming Song [performed, like a prelude]
Greeting and Welcome of New Folks and Guests
Gathering Song [communal]
Gathering of Prayers
- invite prayer requests in writing or verbally
- someone records prayers for later in service
- note special prayer needs expressed from the week
Mission Walk and Announcements
- review mission activities and invite folks into participating
- general announcements
- message for the week!
A Reading - OT or NT reading that relates to gospel message
A Psalm Song - sung psalm with modern tones???
Gospel or Sermon Series w readings
New Creed or Proclamation of Faith
from Brandon A. Cox:
We believe in one God, the Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
Source of all life and all love.
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son,
Fully God, fully human,
Savior of the world,
The risen King of kings.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The very breath and power of God,
Sustainer of our life in Christ.
We believe in the church, Christ’s body,
God’s family for the spiritually homeless,
Called to be Love and Light,
To pursue justice and show mercy,
To proclaim the Good News of Christ,
To work for the common good of humanity.
Gathered Prayers of the People
- prayers of the People!
- gathered fresh
- spontaneous?
- invite prayers from the "pews"
Song For Common Faith
- same song every week
- moves us from Word to Meal
Offering Song and Prayer
- collection via all means - plate, communion meal brought forward, electronic gifting
Confession Prayer
- aloud, together
- with moment (long) of waiting for individuals to "silently speak their sins"
- ' We are just sinners, clinging to the Hope and Promise for the World, Jesus, Our Christ...'
Shared Communion
Contemporaneous Words of Institution
Closing Prayer
Sending Song(s)
Benediction and Commissioning (Go and Serve as Christ's Hands and Feet, etc)
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this is inspired by The Neighborhood Church in Bentonville, AR and Salt House in Kirkland, WA, two ELCA congregations, one a church start and one a replanting...