Rehearsing Sunday morning and the days leading up to it...
PLEASE READ THE PRIOR POSTS BEFORE READING THIS ONE.
Worship is over, and it was an overwhelming service. We had more people in attendance today than any day besides major holidays. Many visitors. We began the service with a reading from Exodus 15, which served as our psalm.
During the service, following announcements, we did a service of remembrance for 9/11. We began with America The Beautiful as the choral anthem, then an introduction to the litany and prayers (see here for the service outline).
The moment of emotion was during a time of readings from the Abrahamic traditions - seeking the healing of the nations. We read from the Jewish Tradition (Isaiah), the Christian Tradition (Matthew 5), and a third text from the Islam Tradition (see yesterday's post for the exact text). I wondered how this would be received, and we made an email announcement on Friday to prepare our worshippers. The faces during the reading seemed more of interest than anxious or disgusted. We ended the 9/11 service with a prayer of remembrance, comfort, and hope, where we prayed, sang Jesus, Remember Me, and then had congregants read pre-distributed names of 9/11 victims.
How we planned for the service:
Stepping Back - Preparing for Worship from Friday to Sunday morning
There was nothing out of the ordinary in the liturgy, except the reading from a non-Christian tradition. I did not think this a big deal until late last week, and we had been planning the service for some time already. I was quite anxious this week after a congregant made a pretty volatile phone call because they had heard rumor that we would be reading from the Muslim tradition. She was quite furious and somewhat unkind in her words. I try to distance myself when volatile phone calls come, but this one unsettled me in a new way. Why the anger about this? Why the over-arching hatred of Islam? She made several racist-leaning comments - How much of this is racism that we, as the body of Christ, ought to confront? Until this point, I had not included the text to "make a point" or "upset the cart" but simply to place before God muslim people and their scriptures. I was forced to go deep inside myself and ask why keeping this reading is important. I had to ask, is congregational discomfort reason enough to abandon what was a patient and long-considered decision (several weeks)? In many ways, the only "point" I was trying to make was evangelistic - ought we invite the very words of a major religion in front of ourselves and God for the possibility of revelation towards JEsus Christ? (These questions led me to write a predatory email to the congregation looking toward the 9/11 service. You can see that email text below in Saturday evenings post).
I didn't want to continue thinking through this alone; I wanted some real wisdom. On Friday night I made a few phone calls to persons I respect, persons who are both part of our congregation and friends beyond. No one would answer the phone, save one Linda Miller. I began speaking in a rapid tone, and couldn't make sense to myself, let alone to her. I was thinking to the point of emotion. I finally took a breath and said, "I simply need prayers for clarity: Prayers that our church would be ready to pursue the peace of the nations and prayers that if something should change between now and Sunday that the voice would be clear." Linda finally was able to get a word in, and said she was with her small group. They would pray! I made six prior phone calls to voicemails, but the one who answered was with a small group. Praise God.
Saturday
On Saturday afternoon, a friend called. I had left her a detailed message the night before, and she was returning my call. She has done extensive work in inter-faith worship, and she is woman of wisdom and spirit. She told me she was honored to be consulted, and I was similarly honored that she called on a Saturday. We talked about the potential impact of the reading; the boldness that was required to try something like this, and the possible emotional exhaustion for the congregation that could occur due to the insertion of the muslim tradition on an already politically and religiously charged day.
The one thing she raised in my conscience that I had forgotten was the recent killings in Norway. True, 9/11 was fanaticism in the name of Allah, but the killings in Norway were fanaticism in the name of our Father. This began to solidify in me that we need places to pray for Muslims and provide space for them in our presence with God. He might be a jealous God, but he is not an exclusive God - he is pursuing those children he begat but who do not know him (Isaiah 1:2) We need liturgical acts to remember that Islam is not the problem, but religious fanaticism and human sin is.
Sunday Morning
The service ended. No one walked out; no one ranted after worship. Any back blow is minimal, and I think it was a remarkable moment that we placed the outcast - the Muslim - in the center of our liturgical - may I say prayerful practice in worship. Now I could see the eyes of the people and engage them in conversation. Many people thanked us for doing the 911 remembrance. One man came to us and said, "perfectly done. Way to include the Muslim text. If anyone gives you grief, send them to me." This was encouraging. A few others talked among themselves, and one of those messages was relayed to me by a friend. The secondhand record said, "Lucy (not her name) came to me to see what I thought [about the Muslim tradition being included]. I told her that I thought it went well, and I appreciated the evangelistic nature of the text." Lucy responded, "I had several questions about the Islamic text. And at first I didn't see the point." My friend responded, "Did he answer your question and was the evangelistic edge helpful." She responded - he did [answer my questions], and I had never heard the word "evangelistic"before. That was helpful."
We are hoping that others who were blessed or unsettled will continue the conversation in the days to follow. The original woman who made the volatile phone call was in worship today. I shook her hand at the back of the sanctuary and said, "I believe it is time for you and I to get together." She agreed.
Lindsay (co-pastor and wife) said that the energy and response to the service was wonderful. People were grateful for the balance of patriotic language, liturgical language, and the overall tone of the service.
One more thing: I was talking to an older woman in our congregation, who said that she had gone to see a friend after worship who could not be with us in worship today. The older woman said that she wanted a CD of the service - it was so complex and layered that it is hard to explain - but it was so powerful, too. I will take her advice and post the service's audio in the coming days.
Worship is over, and it was an overwhelming service. We had more people in attendance today than any day besides major holidays. Many visitors. We began the service with a reading from Exodus 15, which served as our psalm.
During the service, following announcements, we did a service of remembrance for 9/11. We began with America The Beautiful as the choral anthem, then an introduction to the litany and prayers (see here for the service outline).
The moment of emotion was during a time of readings from the Abrahamic traditions - seeking the healing of the nations. We read from the Jewish Tradition (Isaiah), the Christian Tradition (Matthew 5), and a third text from the Islam Tradition (see yesterday's post for the exact text). I wondered how this would be received, and we made an email announcement on Friday to prepare our worshippers. The faces during the reading seemed more of interest than anxious or disgusted. We ended the 9/11 service with a prayer of remembrance, comfort, and hope, where we prayed, sang Jesus, Remember Me, and then had congregants read pre-distributed names of 9/11 victims.
How we planned for the service:
As I started thinking through why or why not this is important, I began to wrestle with the prophetic voice needed on this day. How do we, as church leaders, lovingly invite our people into seeing the whole world on this day and to pursue the healing of the nations. We also wanted to place a despised people front and center within the bounds of God's desire to seek and save. Muslims are considered foreign, evil, and subjects/objects of war by many in our Western culture today, including many Christians. This is exactly the populations who God pursues in Scripture. They have become the infidel and are full of suspicion and mystery in our evangelical subcultures. "They" cause discomfort.
The pastoral background is coming to light as the days go on: I am an Evangelical Covenant pastor, and my denomination raises the flag of diversity and anti-racism often, yet liturgically this does;t emerge as a primary value. I believe that for our denomination what is really important is expressed in our worship. This is not a criticism of the ECC, but something to celebrate - worship is where we place the most important pieces of our lives. The inclusion of the Muslim text was an attempt to disarm the racism and hatred that has escalated in our larger world and our evangelical sub-worlds. If I, as a pastor, am to lead the people into seeing as God sees - to see with Kingdom eyes, then I believe that disarming our hatred in favor of forgiveness and reconciliation is important - and I believe God can be glorified by including the voice of the foreigner, enemy, and stranger. This is why placing Islam between our theological tradition became so important. Also, we need to beseech God to reveal to many religions that the peace that is named in their scripture, is indeed, fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
Stepping Back - Preparing for Worship from Friday to Sunday morning
There was nothing out of the ordinary in the liturgy, except the reading from a non-Christian tradition. I did not think this a big deal until late last week, and we had been planning the service for some time already. I was quite anxious this week after a congregant made a pretty volatile phone call because they had heard rumor that we would be reading from the Muslim tradition. She was quite furious and somewhat unkind in her words. I try to distance myself when volatile phone calls come, but this one unsettled me in a new way. Why the anger about this? Why the over-arching hatred of Islam? She made several racist-leaning comments - How much of this is racism that we, as the body of Christ, ought to confront? Until this point, I had not included the text to "make a point" or "upset the cart" but simply to place before God muslim people and their scriptures. I was forced to go deep inside myself and ask why keeping this reading is important. I had to ask, is congregational discomfort reason enough to abandon what was a patient and long-considered decision (several weeks)? In many ways, the only "point" I was trying to make was evangelistic - ought we invite the very words of a major religion in front of ourselves and God for the possibility of revelation towards JEsus Christ? (These questions led me to write a predatory email to the congregation looking toward the 9/11 service. You can see that email text below in Saturday evenings post).
I didn't want to continue thinking through this alone; I wanted some real wisdom. On Friday night I made a few phone calls to persons I respect, persons who are both part of our congregation and friends beyond. No one would answer the phone, save one Linda Miller. I began speaking in a rapid tone, and couldn't make sense to myself, let alone to her. I was thinking to the point of emotion. I finally took a breath and said, "I simply need prayers for clarity: Prayers that our church would be ready to pursue the peace of the nations and prayers that if something should change between now and Sunday that the voice would be clear." Linda finally was able to get a word in, and said she was with her small group. They would pray! I made six prior phone calls to voicemails, but the one who answered was with a small group. Praise God.
Saturday
On Saturday afternoon, a friend called. I had left her a detailed message the night before, and she was returning my call. She has done extensive work in inter-faith worship, and she is woman of wisdom and spirit. She told me she was honored to be consulted, and I was similarly honored that she called on a Saturday. We talked about the potential impact of the reading; the boldness that was required to try something like this, and the possible emotional exhaustion for the congregation that could occur due to the insertion of the muslim tradition on an already politically and religiously charged day.
The one thing she raised in my conscience that I had forgotten was the recent killings in Norway. True, 9/11 was fanaticism in the name of Allah, but the killings in Norway were fanaticism in the name of our Father. This began to solidify in me that we need places to pray for Muslims and provide space for them in our presence with God. He might be a jealous God, but he is not an exclusive God - he is pursuing those children he begat but who do not know him (Isaiah 1:2) We need liturgical acts to remember that Islam is not the problem, but religious fanaticism and human sin is.
Sunday Morning
The service ended. No one walked out; no one ranted after worship. Any back blow is minimal, and I think it was a remarkable moment that we placed the outcast - the Muslim - in the center of our liturgical - may I say prayerful practice in worship. Now I could see the eyes of the people and engage them in conversation. Many people thanked us for doing the 911 remembrance. One man came to us and said, "perfectly done. Way to include the Muslim text. If anyone gives you grief, send them to me." This was encouraging. A few others talked among themselves, and one of those messages was relayed to me by a friend. The secondhand record said, "Lucy (not her name) came to me to see what I thought [about the Muslim tradition being included]. I told her that I thought it went well, and I appreciated the evangelistic nature of the text." Lucy responded, "I had several questions about the Islamic text. And at first I didn't see the point." My friend responded, "Did he answer your question and was the evangelistic edge helpful." She responded - he did [answer my questions], and I had never heard the word "evangelistic"before. That was helpful."
We are hoping that others who were blessed or unsettled will continue the conversation in the days to follow. The original woman who made the volatile phone call was in worship today. I shook her hand at the back of the sanctuary and said, "I believe it is time for you and I to get together." She agreed.
Lindsay (co-pastor and wife) said that the energy and response to the service was wonderful. People were grateful for the balance of patriotic language, liturgical language, and the overall tone of the service.
One more thing: I was talking to an older woman in our congregation, who said that she had gone to see a friend after worship who could not be with us in worship today. The older woman said that she wanted a CD of the service - it was so complex and layered that it is hard to explain - but it was so powerful, too. I will take her advice and post the service's audio in the coming days.
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