Three churches and three very different services yesterday. The early morning service was at Mossley Hill. A random collection of people, individually dotted around the church, but coming together at the Lord's table. Friendly conversation to follow, catching up on people's health and family news.
The main morning service was at St Barnabas, Penny Lane. We experimented a bit: a service of Holy Communion, seated in a square around a smaller table in the middle. You can do these things with a smaller congregation! There were about 40 people present, and I didn't pick up any complaints (which doesn't mean there weren't any, of course.) This idea came from our Leadership Team, as a way of expressing 'Christ in the centre' and ourselves as a community of blessing. I would say it worked in both ways. Singing was great, and the liturgical responses tremendous! It also made for a sense of greater informality when it came to preaching, and we all stood together around the square to receive communion.
Not only is there a growing sense of community at St Bs, with a readiness to accept change, but we are beginning to attract some young families. Hallelujah! So after the service, I had coffee with some of them to hear how church works for them. It was all positive, all appreciative of the hospitality of St Bs. The main desire is for a designated creche area as there are quite a few infants; also some kind of provision (I don't say Sunday School) for 7-10s as there is a handful of these now. Both requests we should be able to meet. I am so thankful for the way this church is moving on, ever ready to consider ways in which we can be more outward looking and fulfil our sense of call to be a 'civic' or neighbourhood church. There was even a conversation afterwards about removing all the pews, but I suspect this is not our first priority right now. Tempted though.
The afternoon was spent largely preparing an address on 'the church at prayer' for the final service of the day at All Hallows. This also was in an informal setting (about 20 people, gathered in a semi circle on the dais at the front of church) for a Taize style act of worship. It was very atmospheric, very prayerful. And special thanks to Ian, our trainee Reader, who had never been to a Taize service before (never even heard of it!) but did his homework via YouTube and the internet to lead the singing. Brilliant.
Then, to finish the day, I discovered Skype. Wow! I have a former schoolfriend (I didn't say 'old', as he'll probably be reading this) who has emigrated to New Zealand. He has often encouraged me to Skype but somehow I have never got around to it. (In case you don't know, it's a kind of internet-based video telephone via computer). So last night, we finally got connected. Incredibly clear, next best thing to talking to someone in the same room. Peter (my friend) is something of a techno-whizz - always was streets ahead of me in the intelligence department! - and gave me a tour of my own computer. This is rather scary, actually: someone thousands of miles away can 'see' your computer screen and navigate you around it by remote control. You can see how vulnerable we are to hackers. Good job I can trust Peter totally. It was an exhilirating end to the day. I was ready for bed!
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