Friday Before Transfiguration
Lectionary Text:
N.T. 1 Corinthians 11:2-34
Today I have some odds and ends to follow up on our Contemporary Worship topic.
Skits
Another part of many contemporary worship services is skits. Skits often take the place of what would be children's sermons in traditional worship (although children's sermons are not actually a part of the United Methodist Order of Worship). Skits may involve anywhere from two to twenty-five people. Some Contemporary Worship (CW) churches have regular skit teams with standard characters and costumes. The teams are laypeople who audition to be on the team, practice, write, and produce their skits, which are an integral part of the worship service.
Attire
Appropriate attire for pastors in CW is jeans, maybe jeans with a clerical collar, but definitely no clergy robes. Jeans are also appropriate attire for the audience (the word congregation is not preferred). Coat and tie are definitely out of place.
Buildings
A traditional church sanctuary does not work well for CW. Many churches that have both CW and Traditional services will have the CW service in a Fellowship Hall, Auditorium, or some other large room in a church. Churches that are CW only prefer non-church buildings such as store fronts in strip malls. The general feeling behind this is that unchurched people are put off by church buildings. Store fronts are more inviting to them. The store front is rented space, which conveys further the sense of non-permanence. The idea is that, if the church is successful, it will move to a larger rental space, and perhaps eventually create its own building.
Marianne and I once attended a CW church in Myrtle Beach. The building was an old movie theater. It had a concession stand replete with drinks, candy, and a popcorn machine. The popcorn was free. A good many CW churches rent movie theaters for Sunday services.
CW Church Names
CW churches do not have standard church names. There is no CW Church named First. I haven't seen any CW church with a Saint's name. There is also no "_____ Memorial" CW church. Generally CW church names are, what shall I say, "cutesy." I attended Mighty Wind United Methodist Church at a store front in a strip mall in Nags Head NC. The "Mighty Wind" name came from the story of Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2. The name evoked both the Holy Spirit of Acts 2 and the not infrequent weather conditions of the Outer Banks. I have previously mentioned North Star UMC in the northern part of Greensboro. The name evokes not only the church location but also Polaris, the North Star, which gives us our North-South-East-West bearings that allow us to go in the direction of our destination (physically an mtaphorically).
I should note that there are no Episcopal or Lutheran CW churches. Many CW churches are non-denominational. CW is definitely low church.
God of the Spirit,
May your mighty wind blow anew upon us as we make our way through the Pandemic to a new and better national and spiritual health. In Christ.
Amen
Faithfully
Christian
1 comment:
I misread "Mighty Wind" as "Mighty Wand" and was wondering if someone got confused and stepped into a pagan ritual. I think I would hesitate to go to a Mighty Wind church on the Outer Banks, given that mighty winds are the cause of much danger and destruction there. How about: Sea Breeze? Not only is it pleasant and calm, it evokes memories of the stinging skin toner that all the girls used to use in the eighties. Does anyone remember that?
I watched the January 24 service at Duke Chapel this morning. The preaching there by Luke Powery (did I spell that right?) was truly magnificent. Now that's preaching! I actually preached at Duke Chapel - prenatally. My mother preached at Duke Chapel on Father's Day of 1974 when she was just two months away from giving birth to me at Duke Hospital. So I can always say I preached at Duke Chapel. She was so short that they had to find a stool for her to stand on so she could see over the pulpit!
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