God as the centre

It can be hard trying to remember everything that has happened in a year. Our recollection might be different from the person next to us, because some events are more significant to us than to them, and vice versa. In recent years, at the Annual Congregational Meeting, I have collated a slide show of all the worship themes that we have reflected upon in the previous twelve months. It is always a revelation to me, and a great way of reminding me how seriously we take worship at NLMCC. Although we are fabulous at eating, we are generous and pro-active in social justice and we excel at outreach, our main focus is worship. We are a worshipping community, a faith family, a congregation of travellers - however you want to describe us. When I was first visioncasting for the Board about us getting our own building, I used the image of a basic flower, like a daisy, to describe how I saw what we are called to do. The petals of the flower are all the different activities of the church, socials, social action, personal and spiritual development etc. The centre of the flower, to which everything is connected, is worship. We need to keep our worship of God as the centre, at the centre of all that we do. That’s why it is so important to remind ourselves of our worship year as part of the ACM, as well as the budget, the elections and the reports.
 
I describe our worship planning as ‘lectionary light’. Some Christian traditions follow a set series of bible readings, over the course of a three year period. This series of bible readings is called a lectionary. It is way of making sure that congregations hear a broad spectrum of scripture and it stops preachers just preaching on our favourite passages, or topics that we like! We use the lectionary for some of our worship themes. (We use the Revised Common Lectionary.)

The rest of the time, the Worship team may choose the readings along a specific theme, or just choose the theme and allow the preachers to pick the readings that speak to them. More recently, we have also used worship resources developed by the MCC Office of Church Life and Health. I think this ‘lectionary light’ approach allows us to enjoy the rich tradition of the Christian Church. It also enables us give attention to what the needs are of the local congregation to learn and grow in God. Worship planning requires a good ear for the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. We sit in worship team meetings chewing over ideas, reading scripture, reflecting on what we have done in worship and where in the church year we are. We play with words, until we get just the right tone for what we want to convey. I love that moment in the room when everyone goes “Yes, that works.” Knowing the variety of opinions, ideas and traditions in the room, to get that moment where everyone agrees seems to me to be the work of the Holy Spirit.

God bless
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Cecilia