THE KENTON EXPERIENCE CONTINUES
Rev. Dr. Karl R. Kraft, Senior Pastor, 9/6/2010
" ... because there was no room for them in the inn." -- (Luke 2.7)
We should have left for church about ten minutes sooner. It was Sunday, August 29th. My family and I were on vacation in Delaware and had decided to return to the fascinating little church in Kenton, just five miles away from our home. I've written about this church before, and every time we return, something unexpected happens.
The reason we should have left earlier than we did is because when we got there, there was literally no more room to sit! The church was packed to the walls. They had even run out of bulletins (someone kindly let us have theirs). We were able to sit in a pew only because the people who were already there volunteered to squeeze down, making just barely enough room for the three of us (the foster baby, of course, sat on our laps). If I hadn't put my arm on the pew behind Karlyn, we probably would have been unbearably uncomfortable.
The format of the service hadn't changed all that much since our last visit. The congregation was very noisy as they gathered, chatting with one another and greeting visitors. They continued to talk over the pastor, who smiled through his attempt to share some announcements. After that, the youth took a few moments to share some slides on the sanctuary screen from their recent mission trip.
From there Pastor Scot went immediately into the children's sermon and, after dismissing the kids to Children's Church, opened the service by inviting everyone to greet one another. We were inundated with people coming over to us, actually hugging us as though we were long-time family members.
By this time, the congregation had started to "gel." It came together when the service "formally" opened with a hymn from the United Methodist Hymnal (words on the screen). No call to worship. No invocation. No congregational responses of any kind. Instead, once the hymn ended the pastor was given a stack of index cards ("Attendance Cards") on which everyone had registered their attendance and added prayer requests. As the organist played softly, Pastor Scot read the prayer requests, and after that, asked all persons who had any connection with the area schools to stand (teachers, administrators, staff, even students). He offered a special prayer over those who were standing, and ended by having the congregation pray the Lord's Prayer.
Special music was an elementary-age girl who sang a solo a cappella, and who received a standing ovation as a response. Pastor Scot then moved into the scripture lesson (which he read while pacing up and down the aisle) and the sermon, which he preached from a lectern on the floor level of the sanctuary. As the service ended with the singing of another hymn, the congregation was told that they were free to come to the altar rail for prayer. Pastor Scot took this time to pray with those who went forward, rather than lead the singing. In fact, the altar time took so long that we sang the hymn through twice!
While there is a structure to the service, it's not stodgy. There's an order of worship in the bulletin, but it's very sparse. Still, they managed to include all the important elements of worship: scripture, sermon, prayer, singing, fellowship, children and youth, etc. The emphasis seems to be on providing a welcoming, hospitable environment for worshipers, and that emphasis is enhanced by giving the congregation a chance to fellowship together, laugh, and truly feel the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts of the people who come together.
Would there be anything that this growing church is doing that we might be able to adopt? Could we be a little more hospitable? A little less "formal?" Are there changes we can make to our worship format or style that would allow the Holy Spirit a bit more "breathing room?" It's something to think about.
All I know is that we believe we've found our future Delaware church home!
WHEN DEVOTIONAL READINGS COINCIDE
Rev. Dr. Karl R. Kraft, Senior Pastor ,8-3-2010
Someone once said that coincidence is when God chooses to act anonymously. If that's the case, then God continues to be at work not infrequently during my morning devotional times.
Take last Friday, for example. I use two devotional guides: "Penned from the Heart" (Jana Carman, ed.; Son-Rise Publications, New Wilmington, PA) and "The Upper Room Disciplines 2010" (Upper Room Books, Nashville). The theme that these two sources shared appeared to be the church.
Charles E. Harrel penned the thoughts for "Penned" that day, taking his scripture text from Genesis 35.1-7, the story of Jacob's flight to Bethel with his family after hiding their collection of foreign gods and jewelry under an oak tree. Harrel's emphasis was on Jacob's building an altar once he arrived in Bethel, effectively declaring a sacred space for worship.
"In Jacob's day," Harrel points out, "these high, holy places did not belong to prophets, priests, patriarchs, or anyone else. God was sole proprietor."
He then goes on to make the modern-day connection: "Today, we Christians call them churches, but no matter what the title deed says, they belong to God."
How would our thinking or mind set be modified if we remembered first of all that our church belongs to God, and not the Conference or even us? Harrel concludes by saying that our churches are "still the ideal place to commune with God and seek His will."
Then I turned to the "Upper Room Disciplines 2010," where 81-year-old Nancy U. Neal has supplied the week's thoughts. She lifted Friday's scripture from the lectionary gospel reading (Luke), using verse one from chapter 14: "On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely."
She focused in on the idea that Jesus was being watched closely, and noted that being so closely watched didn't diminish his enthusiasm for teaching others about God and the love of God. Against incredible odds (scrutiny, doubt, criticism, distrust) Jesus managed to maintain his effectiveness as a preacher and teacher.
Neal then turned the light on the modern-day church. "After all these years," she writes, "we sometimes still don't get it. We judge, criticize, mistrust, and doubt."
It must be a common condition in the 21st-century church, otherwise it wouldn't be discussed in an internationally-distributed devotional guide. And we know that there have been times when the condition has infected our church too.
But Nancy Neal also pulls the good news into her thoughts: "Yet, Jesus keeps inviting us to love God and serve others." (In other words, Jesus never gives up on us.) "When we hear and accept that invitation, we are drawn closer to God and to one another." When we're drawn closer to one another, it's often in the context of the church -- that sacred space which, thousands of years ago, might have been nothing more than an anointed altar and today could be a cathedral or mega-church.
The more we work on making our church a welcoming place, the closer we'll come to accepting Jesus' invitation to love God and serve one another. With Rowan's new school year beginning, we are practically given the opportunity on a silver platter. Will we take advantage of the gift that God is offering? Will we do what's pleasing to our church's sole proprietor?
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