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The utter ridiculousness of worship

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Sitting in the back of a presbytery worship service – watching two of my black-robed colleagues call us to confession and read Scripture and preside at the table laden with silver trays filled with tiny plastic cups of grape juice and little pieces of Wonder Bread – a recurring thought kept coming to consciousness: This is utterly ridiculous. We sing words from hymns written over a century ago and recite creeds crafted in antiquity. These ancient texts get projected onto screens affixed next to a cross, a state-sanctioned means of execution from ages past. We “pass the peace,” another idiosyncrasy not easily translated to those outside our sanctuary walls. We sit silently (at least that’s the norm in most of our houses of worship) and listen for 15-20 minutes while the preacher expounds on stories set in cultures light-years away from our current context. At this service the necrology was read as “Amazing Grace” emanated from bagpipes. Necrology. Amazing grace. Bagpipes. Exponential … [Read more...]

Tagged With: worship

Meet Outlook board member John Arwood

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John Arwood is a lifelong Presbyterian, raised in Arkansas and ordained as an elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has held various editing roles at newspapers in Arkansas, Missouri and North Carolina, including nearly 25 years at The Charlotte Observer, where he helped lead the newsroom’s transition to a digital-first strategy. He now works in the corporate communications field in Charlotte.  His wife, Alice, grew up at Covenant and they met and married at the church in 1998. Among other activities, John and Alice have both been involved in the education ministry at Covenant, from teaching elementary-age children to serving on the adult education committee to helping bring nationally recognized speakers to Charlotte. One of John’s favorite spiritual disciplines is reading the same Scripture passage every day for a certain period of time. One year during Lent, he read Philippians 4:8 (“Whatever is true ...”) for each of the 40 days and found the … [Read more...]

Race Relations Sunday (80 years ago)

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80 years ago — November 22, 1939 The 18th annual observance of Race Relations Sunday was approaching. The Federal Council of Churches shared a message drafted by Philip Jones, pastor of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, “challenging the churches in a time of world conflict, suffering and wreck of war, to be aware of the ‘lack of social justice in our own country,’ and ‘to purify herself of the great modern heresy of racial discrimination within her own walls.’” It called Christians to oppose “cruelty and injustice which greed, bigotry and prejudice create.” But more than this, Christians are called to action in communities to effect change. Christians are called to correct “unequal educational opportunities for minority races, inequitable administration of public benefits of social security and the like, the withholding of civic privileges and rights from citizens of color, and an unbrotherly conduct in the daily life of people of different racial groups. Concrete … [Read more...]

Creating together at Coastland Commons

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SEATTLE – What is the role of creativity in worship? How can music and art and poetry be gateways for connection to the sacred — particularly for people who would never show up to sit in a church pew on a Sunday morning? That’s part of what Coastland Commons, a new worshipping community in Seattle, is exploring — and a question that organizers think has implications for life in more traditional congregations as well. Coastland Commons was born of a conviction: “We believe that everyone has the capacity to be creative,” said Zac Calvo, a minister who Seattle Presbytery ordained to be the organizing pastor of Coastland Commons. Dani Forbess is pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in the Ballard neighborhood, and leads Seattle Presbytery’s New Worshipping Communities task force. With Kyle Turver, director of worship ministries at Bethany Presbyterian Church, she is co-director of Coastland Commons. Calvo also serves as director of community and youth engagement at … [Read more...]

Ministry takes many forms — November 11, 2019

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Ministry takes on a myriad of forms, changing over time as a result of circumstances seen and unseen. This issue of the Outlook examines how congregations and individuals respond to natural disasters — not just in the short run, but over many months and even years. Additionally, we take a look at the gifts and challenges of bivocational ministry. Click here to read the issue in the Uberflip reader. On this rock Following disasters, Presbyterians step in to bring hope and relief to communities in chaos and grief. In the eye of the hurricane Presbyterians serve “faceless people” in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. A snapshot of biovocational ministry How can the church better care for the needs and callings of pastor serving bivocationally? 200 years of Outlook Here’s a glimpse of our 200th anniversary celebration in October. To give thanks  Poetry for Thanksgiving by J. Barrie Shepherd  … [Read more...]

Welcome to Bar Church

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SEATTLE – It’s called Bar Church and yes, you can get a beer at worship if you want. But don’t get stuck there. Go beyond the surface and think about what church might look like in 20 or 30 years. Think about the idea of people gathering for spiritual conversation and connection in places that aren’t churches. Think about the reality that more and more Americans – particularly young people – have no connection to the institutional church. Think about the idea of “third places” – places where people of faith build relationships with the local community by really listening to what the people who live there want and need. Think about what might happen by creating such a place — even if it is nothing like people think of as Sunday morning church. Seattle – full of young adults and located in what’s considered to be one of the most secular parts of the country – is in some ways serving as a testing ground for what religion of the future could look like. It’s a fluid mix of … [Read more...]

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