Worship Notes: The Gathering

 

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St. Luke wrote about a church gathering in a third story room in Troas of Myasia.  “On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight” (Acts 20:7-12).*

They met “on the first day of the week,” Sunday, and Paul spoke past midnight.  Kind of makes a 1½-hour service seem like a flash!  One small detail sheds some more light: When this story was written, a new day began—not at sunrise—but at sunset.  The Jewish Sabbath, Saturday, actually begins Friday evening.  So, ‘Sunday’ for these Christians began on our Saturday evening!  Their weekly rhythm had a slightly different beat than ours.

Gordon Lathrop, in his book, Holy Things, has a section on “Sacred Places, Sacred Times, Sacred People” (pp. 104-115).  He creatively describes the gathering of people for worship as music. “After the week is over, before a new week begins, on a day all Christianity has set, at a time my community has determined, I come into church.  Just by doing that, I am given a rhythm in time, a way to mark change and flow in my days...” “Even in the simple gathering, with no instruments or even no singing, the rhythms of speech and silence and of communal movement are those of quiet music.” 

When we gather, a place and time “here and now” is created in the world where we seek a taste and word from “then and there,” from the Kingdom of Christ.  We gather here and now as we wait for what is not yet. Our worship finds Christ and his Kingdom in the bath (baptism), the word (scripture, preaching, teaching), and the meal (communion with Christ and each other). 

These, in turn, help determine “the rhythm” of our gathering.  If our focus will be the “community” of the meal and how we support and nourish each other, then perhaps our gathering should be full of handshakes, hugs and “welcomes”—whether inside or outside the sanctuary—followed by a gathering hymn and/or clear words calling on the Christ’s presence.  For some people, it is difficult to worship God until a clear connection to the people worshipping beside them is made. 

Others may need a sense of space and quiet, a moment to be confronted and reclaimed by God.  We each do need time to stand alone before his presence.  From week to week it might change for you, and your need that day will not match the next person’s. 

For that reason, both community and space need to be included.  A sip of coffee and conversation in the narthex.  A smile and handshake from ushers, greeters and others.  A moment of personal quiet in a church pew.  A brief moment during the confession and forgiveness.  Patience and forgiveness must already be in play as we gather.  Quiet contemplators can forgive an interruption to greet someone, knowing that God also speaks through community.  And vice-versa.

Christ’s Spirit comes in the silence, through the welcoming and greeting, and through voice of song and liturgy. He comes in the gathering because people are coming together in his name.  Next week: God’s Presence in the Confession and Forgiveness.

 

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* The story goes on to tell of how a young man, Eutychus, was sitting in one of the open windows.  Overcome by the late hour, the torch heat and Paul’s long sermon, he fell asleep and out the window.  He was announced as dead, but Paul went down, embraced Eutychus, and stated that he was alive; Eutychus did, in fact, recover.  I wouldn’t be surprised that Luke, in retrospect, found the scene both miraculous and humorous, including it as one of his favorite memories of Paul.