I had a different kind of church experience last Sunday. I took a day off from my own church and went with Colleen who was preaching in a church near Indianapolis. The day was cloudy, foggy and overcast as we went.
At the church, due to Covid, the worship was different from any that I have experienced. There was no worship leader. No congregational singing. No special music. No offering, or prayer requests, or announcements! No invitation at the conclusion of the service. No choir.
The elements of the Lord’s Supper were laid out on a table. Everyone took a cup and the bread with them to their seat as they spread out over the sanctuary. The Lord’s Prayer was on the screen, and we all prayed together. Then the preacher preached–a wonderful sermon, by the way. And the Elders came and presided over the supper.
No elders serving the people! or the pastor serving the elders! And an elder serving the pastor. We all ate and drank together, and one of the elders prayed a prayer of consecration.
The whole thing was done in maybe over a half hour.
As Baptists, we pride ourselves on not having ritual. And we might ask, “Did we worship without ‘all the things we do’?” In our time of worship, somebody is always doing something!
I think it’s good when God shakes us out of our routines in habits–in church and out of church, and by that teaches us new things about ourselves.
On the way home we saw the Master Artist had outdone Himself, if that’s possible. The trees, the fields, some harvested and bare, some still loaded with harvest. And the skies–Glorious!
We wended our way home through the countryside. Now, I don’t worship nature, but I do its Creator and Sustainer. And the whole time, I did not think about Covid even one time. I was truly blessed!
The whole thing was so heartwarming. Unexpected and beautiful! It reminds me of what the early church must have been.
They would come into someone’s house after work, bringing what food they had to share. They would eat a meal together, pray, read from the Scripture and have a teaching, serve the communion, fellowship together, and go home. I love the simplicity of that!
Simple worship is a gift from God!
Thoughts From the Garden 