Since making “plan and lead 25 worship services” one of my 101 goals I have now completed 1 service. Actually, given the way things are going I don’t think this will be difficult. I plan and lead at least once a month for my church, The Table. I also have plans to plan and lead a seminary chapel service, and later an entire weekend of a youth retreat. So I expect that while this won’t be an easy goal, it will be do-able.
This Sunday’s topic was forgiveness. There was no way around it, all the texts pointed that way. And as is so often the case when I plan worship, it was exactly what I didn’t want to talk about this week. I confessed to my worship planning team that it seems that whenever I have a major life crisis I am planning worship. Actually this is a wonderful because worship planning, at least at The Table, allows me to be more myself and use more of my gifts and passions than almost any other activity. I get to read, think creatively, use my imagination, write, collaborate with others and pray. And then I get to lead others in worship. Admittedly the leading part is very tiring. I usually crash after I’ve lead a worship service. Poor little introvert that I am, sometimes is a bit overwhelmed with the “people time” at The Table. On the other hand, The Table does actually take silence seriously, which I love.
I also love the collaborative way that we plan worship. The host (me) gets a group together to read through and talk about the lectionary scriptures for the week. Then we consider what message the church might need to hear from those scriptures. It is always SO fun to see what other people think of a bring to the service. For example, this Sunday, Rachel, a member of my team said, “We should talk about postures of forgiveness and have people practice them.” And we did and it was an incredibly meaningful part of the service.
Perhaps I am in the “infatuation” stage with my church. Like a love affair where the other can do no wrong. But I hope not. For the first time in ages I actually really like my church.
I love the concept of your church…it sounds like something I would actually want to attend. (I just googled it and found your lovely press release about it!)
On another subject, I’m so glad you’re blogging again!