Wandering But Not Lost

Friday, July 29, 2005

Unity

All my intentions of posting daily have been severly test...and I've failed...due to far too much work at my day job. I hate it when real life interferes with the rest of my life!

I've been thinking about community alot lately. Specifically, the unity that can exists when there is community. As a Session, we spent some time praying specifically for unity in the midst of tremendous change. It reminded me again of the uniqueness of Central, that there seems to be a giftedness towards accepting change. Not just change in and of itself...but change that seems to be a movement towards a calling for God.

We have, for the past 4 years, had three distinct services on Sunday morning. Four years ago when we asked the Traditional service to meet an hour earlier to accommodate a new expression of contemporary worship, the response was overwhelmingly positive. The common expression was "that kind of worship is not for me, but if it helps people experience God, then we'll make the switch." That is a sign of healthy church life.

Now we are moving to consolidate the two distinct contemporary teams into one team and to make the two contemporary services the same. We are doing this for a multitude of reasons, but the main factor is that the two distinct services were not sustainable with the number of volunteers and it was becoming life draining for those responsible for leading those teams.

We met Wednesday night will all the musicians that play in both services. The Director of Worship Arts explained the vision, how there were changes coming for both teams and both services, how the commitment level was going to be greater since they would be serving two services on a Sunday. That means a 6 hour day for those involved. Again, the response was overwhelmingly positive. People seemed to sense the call of God in this and were willing to get on board.

I pray now for the congregation as they learn about the change and as they experience some level of grief for the service they have known and loved.

On a unrelated...but related note. My wife and I are reading scripture at a friend's wedding this weekend. The passage is Colossians 3:12-17:

Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person wh offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from God rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace and always be thankful.

Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, let it be representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.


That passage is my prayer for our Church today. I am thankful for the ways our community matches this passage. I pray for a greater expression of this passage in ways that we struggle. I pray for continued peace and unity in the midst of tremendous change. I pray for the courage to continue our change, to be the community of faith that we feel called to be.