Seeing how it's been a while since I've posted - I'm just going to offer some refelctions on some of the worship that we've experienced at Faith UMC lately, highlighting parts that were particularly meaningful for me.
On Wednesday, March 31st - I preached at Shiloh UMC in Indian Head, MD. Faith is involved with a group of churches along the 210 Corridor and we join together during Lent for Wednesday night worship - we have different churches host on certain nights, and another church provides the worship experience on those nights. Any-hoo, what was neat for me was the chance to use a projector and screen (I want one! I want one!). The scripture was from Matthew, where a leper comes to Jesus asking to be cleansed. Jesus in his compassion, reaches out and TOUCHES the man (which was a no no in the ancient near east) and heals him. See the first chapter of Mark in your Bible for the whole story. We projected a picture (that I think i posted on this blog a year or two ago) of a person stricken with leprosy holding a flower. The sermon was meant to confront us with the fact that we are all spritual lepers - and in the need of Jesus healing touch - and that we, now bearers of this touch of Jesus, should withold it from no one. The downside? The podium I used wouldn't hold my manuscript - and I kept loosing my place and essentially had to make it up as I went along. God worked it out (thanks, Lord).
On Good Friday we had a small service at Faith in the early afternoon, after food pantry. We used a big wooden cross I built last year and went through the gospels - telling the story of the crucifiction. Meanwhile the cross was adorned with a crown of thorns, nails and finally a balck cloth draped over it to signify death. I made the mistake of not instructing the congregation effectively and I think they felt a little lost, and it distracted from the depth that the service could have had. But maybe I'm wrong...God judges hearts...not me (okay, I DO - but I'm not supposed to and when i do I'm often wrong.)
On Easter we had our sunrise service at 6:45 am. It was simple, we sang, read some scripture and "flowered the cross" covering the center of it with carnations and then draping in it a white sheet. This cross was then brought into the sanctuary as the choir processed in (which i thought was kinda cool). Honestly, I can't even remember what I preached! Sad, right? Really, I feel like the beauty of the day (it was gorgeous out!) contributed more to a sense and understanding of Christ's resurrection WAY more than anything we did inside the church.
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