No more grace

Yesterday was a weird sort of day. It was the first day with no Sunday School this year – so we just had the 10 am worship gathering. It was also the first day for hour-long Jr. Worship – and it was a beautiful day, so they were able to go outside. I also changed the order of the service around quite a bit. We opened with just one song, then we took a quiz, I played a Tommy Womack song, did the sermon, then we did some worship songs. But most importantly, this was the first Sunday since September 25, 2005 where we did not sing “Amazing Grace” as our closing song. A few people made mention of it to me afterwards. Not that they were upset, but probably more sad than anything.

Things seemed out of sorts from the start. I didn’t head over to the church building until after the sun was already up. Then it was just so different having people show up all at once. But it was okay.

While we were running through songs before anyone arrived I noticed a man and woman come in. I was pretty sure they had been here before - wanting money. It was several years ago, but I remember them because the guy was wearing an Insane Clown Posse t-shirt. Anyway, they wanted money again, so I told them to wait until after our worship service and we could talk. I didn’t think they would, but they did, and I gave him $20 (what he asked for).

I had a hard time getting a feel for how the service was going too. I couldn’t get a read from anyone. This is one of the things I really miss - having a “core team” to help me process things like this. People to give me feedback and whatnot. But… it’s nobody’s fault but mine. So, I’m not sure how the new format went over. I have to admit, I was ready to change back before we even started yesterday. But I hope I can have the patience to wait it out and see how it goes. We’ll see.

I was sad myself at not closing with “Amazing Grace.” I had been wondering how long we’ve done it, so I looked it up after church. Two and a half years is quite a while. What’s weird is – I didn’t really even think about it when I planned out the service. I just sort of ‘did it.’ But now it is starting to sink in… and it really saddens me. But I don't think we should go back to it. I mean, those things just never seem the same once they’re changed. I dunno.

I’ll close with a quote I’ve been thinking about from The Shaping of Things To Come (p.77):

We don’t think a church is just any old group of Christians who have bumped into each other. Neither do we think that a group of Christians who gather for a specific missional purpose is necessarily a church… When we use the term church we are trying to do so in the same way the New Testament uses it. In Paul’s writings he employed the term ekklesia (church) in a way that can only refer to an actual gathering of people, not to some ethereal theological concept. It is a regularly constituted meeting of God’s people… As to what occurred in such a gathering, we think Acts 2:42-47 provides a neat snapshot. (Then they go on to describe the three broad commitments of: Communion (relationship with Christ), Community (relationship with one another), and Commission (relationship with the world).

I’ll buy that. You know, I complain about the church probably as much as anybody; and it can frustrate me to no end sometimes... but no one ever said it should be easy, or pretty; and when it comes right down to it, I still believe it is absolutely necessary. It is the only true hope for the world.

Have a nice day, folks!