A very liturgical service

Today, I visited a colleague in one of his last worship services prior to retirement. Jack had wanted to do a long run (not a loop) and have me pick him up at the terminus after ten am. This was not going to work until I check the website. The church I planned to worship at had a third Sunday 7:30am communion service! God is good....

I arrived right at 7:30 and since I didn't see a greeter, I went immediately to my seat. Just as I sat down, the organist began the prelude. I was wishing I had a bulletin, but thought maybe I would get one on my way out. However, a very nice member brought a bulletin to me during the second musical selection.

The first thing I noticed was the instructions on the front of the bulletin regarding communion and who could or should partake. It seemed pretty straight forward in that a belief in Jesus Christ was required. (However, I later learned that members of another UMC had been denied communion until after they had a conversation with the pastor.)

We were instructed to turn to the hymnal for the liturgy for today's service. Okay, again, so far so good. We also do this on occasion when the full liturgy is being used or if there is no powerpoint available. However, this is where the similarities ended. The majority of the liturgy is sung (or at least intoned) and there is much more involvement from the congregation than I am used to.

Also, the pastor, almost apologetically, reminded the congregation (and any visitors) that in their tradition they are first and foremost sinners in need of forgiveness. The first order of worship was for the confession and pardon.

The sermon itself was rather brief. The text was from Jeremiah and the prophets who misled the people against the prophets who may not have been popular but were speaking the words of the Lord. It began with clips from "Don't Worry Be Happy" and "Hakuna Matata". Are those messages from the false prophets or from the Lord? Jeremiah may have been a bullfrog, but his croak was born from the word of the Lord. We then were asked (all ten of us) to gather at the back of the sanctuary where a framed homemade version of the Ten Commandments were blessed.

We all were able to gather as one at the communion rail. There the pastor placed a wafer in each of our mouths. I should not have been, but I was surprised when my cup contained wine. Considering that there was the option of the common cup, I should have had a forewarning, but somehow I missed it.

The overall feel of the morning was worshipful and I felt I had participated in and received much from the experience, However, it was more foreign than I had expected. I had gotten the impression that the Luttheran Church, Missouri Synod, was closer to the UMC than I experienced this morning.