There is much discussion these days about what to call when we gather. Is it church?, worship?, assembly?, gathering or something else.
The words we use reveal what we think we are doing. This is a very important issue, but what not the one I want to address now.
My question is, what is the relationship between the gathering that is being held this week and what we do every Sunday (or whenever else your congregation meets)?
A movie or a series?
One way to think about the question is to ask is this Sunday's gathering a movie or an episode of a series?
Movies have a clear beginning and end, and everything is contained in what happens in between. An episode of a series has its own integrity and story line, but it is also part of a larger story.
When we think about what we are doing as we meet this Sunday, should we think it is entirely self-contained or part of what we do regularly?
The answer to this question has real implications. If the meeting is entirely self-contained there is no need to do anything repeatedly or regularly. If it is a series, then we need to determine what things must be done every week, and what we are free to modify.
What if?
I realise that no one thinks our meetings should be entirely self contained, but what if they were?
"¢ there would be no common story told. It would be impossible to answer "what is it that happens at church?"
"¢ participation would be diminished. Participation requires that you know what is going to happen. In novelty, power and control lies entirely in the hands of the leader.
What would happen if you did the same every week? Well, not really the same, but used the same prayer book service every time, with no changes to what is written?
"¢ what you know would be reinforced
"¢ focus would be on what changes: that is the Bible readings and the prayers. The prayer book prayers, follow the church's calendar, so that over a year you would learn the gospel story.
"¢ in our age of informality and novelty, people would become bored and hate what is happening
Some things to think about
All this leads me to ask some questions of our meetings.
1. What elements of our meetings must always be present? The longer the list, the more less flexible in meeting structure you must be. My thoughts on what must be constant are: prayer, Bible reading (both OT and NT), and the recognition, in some way, of all who are present.
2. In our desire to have a uniting theme for the particular gathering; how does this theme fit in with big story of the gospel?
3. If the theme of the day derives from the passage being preached, by focusing exclusively on that, are we in danger of losing the glory of God? For example if wrath is the theme this week, and love next week, will our themes compartmentalise God and only declare one aspect at a time?
4. What do we do about the sad fact that for some people regularity at church means being present twice a month. If church is like an episode of a series, what do for those who miss episodes?
Plenty of other questions come to mind, but I want us to think about what we do. We mustn't be boring in our conduct of meetings, nor forget that we teach what we believe by rehearsing what is important to us.
