Reign of Christ


 Well, it was bound to happen. Every service I have attended so far has been a Sunday when the regularly appointed minister was present, until this week.  The congregation was pretty small, but I am not sure whether that was due to the minister being away or whether it is just a small congregation.  When I was in solo ministry, I sometimes heard people saying "Well, if the minister is going to be away this week, I don't think I'll go."  Which is heart-breaking, when a group of lay people has taken time and used their creativity to put together a service. Or you are paying pulpit supply and they miss the chance to hear another preacher with a different perspective. Maybe it's meant to be a compliment? But I think most ministers would rather you came to church to support whoever is in the pulpit.

I attended Baptist worship on Sunday and the minister was away. Disappointing because I was hoping to hear her preach. In her place, the choir led the service, using a cycle of reflections, scripture readings, anthems, hymns and praise music to celebrate the theme of the day, which was Reign of Christ Sunday.  I love music, so I loved it.  Most of the hymns were traditional hymns, though there were also some praise choruses in the bulletin.  I recognized the words or tunes to about half of them, so it was easy to participate.  I missed the inclusive language versions I am used to singing in the United Church, but it wasn't unexpected. If you want an unapologetic Christ the King service, this was the place to be!

The best part of the service for me was seeing the choir, how they interacted with one another, sang their hearts out, and lifted the congregation from what might have been a very sad space.  It was very clear they love their congregation, love each other and love the Lord (as good Baptists might say.) Also hopeful was the large number of younger adults taking part. Not a lot of young families or children/youth, but almost every second person in the pews was younger than me. This congregation has an outreach project sheltering and supporting youth two nights a week, and perhaps this is one of the fruits of that work. We hear that young people are drawn to churches that are making a difference, and this Baptist congregation is clearly walking the talk. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 27 2025

Image
 Last week one of my kids asked me about the different kinds of Methodist churches. I explained about the founder John Wesley and how that tradition was shaped in both the UK and the US. The British Methodists who came to Canada were in general the ones who formed an early Methodist church here and then joined in the United Church of Canada union in 1925. There are also Free Methodists and Wesleyans, both of whom are part of larger North American denominations, with more links to the United States. Churches, particularly Protestant ones, seem to be very susceptible to schisms and splits, and those who were inspired by the faith of John Wesley are no different! I attended a Wesleyan Church service on Sunday, and was struck by the large proportion of younger adults who were in attendance - not that it was a big congregation, but many of them would be younger than 40.  Besides the later hour and proximity to a university I think the style of music (contemporary praise) and preach...
Read more
Image
  Cluster Service What is a cluster service? In our area, 5 congregations have formed a cluster, working together to be the United Church in our corner of the city.  As former minister of one of those congregations, I always enjoyed the Cluster Service. It gave us the opportunity to meet and experience the strengths of other communities of faith. Every year, however, one comment always arose: "So nice for you to have a Sunday off..."! To be honest, these services are not easy. Yes, we might not be preaching, but chances are we are doing something. In a different worship space, with a different congregation that is not really a community. And praying that everyone will show up. "Why don't we do more together?" That's a good question, and I think there are a variety of factors. Ministers: I love my colleagues in ministry and I love working with them. However the reality is that most of us, unless we are diaconal ministers, are not trained to work together. Tru...
Read more