What’s back at my church
We have always maintained some link to the traditions of the denomination, especially those dealing with “family events” in our church. We’ve gone pretty contemporary in many things, even to the point of soft couches and chairs in our welcome center where our people relax and enjoy each other’s company. We’ve kept hymns in our service, though our leader tends to bring them up-to-date with a more pop style rather than playing them in their original form all the time.
While much has changed, two old things have recently returned to our services.
The altar has never been removed, and has always been available, but recently we find our congregations has rediscovered it. Where many contemporary churches have replaced altar prayer with standing congregational prayer, our people have once again regained an old Nazarene freedom to come to the altar for prayer at any time. It is not unusual for people to come during the music service outside of the ‘prayer time’ that is scheduled regularly into the service. I think that freedom of the altar is a grand thing, and I welcome spontaneous prayer. I am glad to see that the altar is back in a good way.
The other is “testimony time”. It’s really good to see the congregation welcomed back into the service. In a lot of larger churches, the people who compose the church are pushed aside in the rush to complete a complex program every week. In smaller churches, there is often more freedom for people to speak up and tell good news or voice concerns. It’s good to hear about faith at work in the lives of our friends.
There is a healthy human urge to push for more novelty, and another to conform to modern styles and forms, an yet another balancing force that clings to tradition. I think that it’s good to welcome all these elements into our worship. Those practices that belonged to bygone eras were tested over centuries of practice and are still valid and can be beautiful today. While we should not bow to a tyranny of tradition, we can still find meaning in the mix of old and new.
I’m glad to see the mix of musical styles, welcome center, testimony, and altar prayer as it continues to shape the identity of our people through fellowship and worship.
