Expectations at church

A long way away from home, we went to church the other Sunday. The experience fell a bit short of my personal criteria for worship. The very up-front role of two men leading the singing and two more men managing the dazzling audiovisual production didn’t do a whole lot for me. The shallow, banal and repetitive nature of the songs and the fact that without music or a melody line from an instrument I couldn’t join in the singing didn’t help at all.

However, the modest roles left for the visiting worship leader were in stark contrast to everything else. She got the attention of all of us in an entertaining but highly relevant experiment involving some of the children. She preached without notes but it was never off the top of her head. It seemed to flow from the depth of her immersion in the scripture. Throughout, she engaged us with passion and clarity about our doubts and uncertainties and led us to a point of insight and re-commitment.

I can’t imagine how many others noticed, but for me she made some telling points in what she didn‘t say. In dealing with the resurrection experience of the disciples on the Emmaus Road she did not say at any time that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead. She did not claim that the story she was so ably expounding was might not be a literal account of actual events. She did not say that Jesus died for our sins through the traditional explanations of the atonement. No conservative member of that congregation could have found anything to carp about.

Of course, that may or may not be a good thing. Teaching by not saying some things doesn’t always work. The failure of the church’s leadership to be more explicit about biblical interpretation a century ago continues to haunt the mainline church. But, in the context of this worship service, Sunday’s gentle omissions enabled me to feel included among sixty people among whom I would have otherwise felt alien and rejected. It was a salutary and inspiring experience.

A Rounded Experience

In 1972 I attended my first South Island School of Theology at the Methodist church’s own outstanding property at Kawarau Falls,near Queenstown. Thirty-seven years later, Bev and I have just had three days at another.

The venue for the School is now Lakeland Park Christian Camp, a few kilometres along the lake front. The people have changed but the same elements were there. There was worship and guidance in meditation; there was strong intellectual input on leadership theory and the nature of God; there were practical exercises in preparing rituals for “fresh expressions” of the faith of local community; and we had some uproarious laughter, especially when the group experienced our murder mystery dinner on the last night. Comfortable accommodation and excellent meals rounded out a full and satisfying experience.

We think that people in any local church might hope for the same things. There should be satisfying worship and nurturing of the spiritual life. There should be good teaching on the bible and our life in God. People in a church fellowship should welcome opportunities of service through practical Christianity. Hopefully, too, people will be looking for new ways of being the church in the local community. And we think also, parish people should be having fun. If the Christian life fails to bring laughter and good cheer, especially in the face of difficulty, then it has failed altogether.

So we invite readers – and our own people back home – to look to worship, study, service and “fresh expressions” of life in faith. And have fun!