This week and next, our church Fernwood Baptist and St. Christopher's Episcopal Church are having community worship services. This week, all of us attended at St. Chris (a great name for a church, if you ask me) as our pastor Bailey preached. Next week, we'll all meet at Fernwood as their vicar Jim preaches.
It's a cool idea for community building. I also love being able to worship with different traditions of Christianity. That being said, there were definitely two aspects of the service that I wish I could take with me wherever I go.
1. The Centrality of Eucharist
In Baptist churches, the main event, so to speak, is the service. That is to which everything builds. In the Episcopal service (and this is true of Lutherans and several other higher church denominations), the sermon is a prelude to the taking of communion.
Besides the fact that I deeply love taking communion and I would gladly do it every week, this difference shifts the emphasis of the worship service. When a sermon is the centerpiece of a worship service, the focus lands on scripture. When Eucharist is the centerpiece, the emphasis is on the person and work of Jesus. The Lord's Supper grounds us in what our faith has been about from the beginning.
This is not to say that sermon's and scripture are not important. Each are an essential part to a worship service. But in a region where the Bible can sometimes be elevated to Trinitarian status, the unchanging centrality of what Jesus did (and does) is all the more important. As a Christian, I come to church to remember what Christ has done so that his work may sustain me and aid me as I stumble and scratch my way to trying to live more like Jesus.
2. The Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
During the service, we all said this, from The Book of Common Prayer, in unison:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
I need to say that and I need to say that out loud. In our postmodern world, the language of sin makes us uneasy. It seems archaic. But I have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed. I have sinned in what I have done and failed to do. I have not loved God with my entire heart and have not loved my neighbor as myself (and sometimes I have not even loved myself). I need to be reminded of all that. I need to say it out loud.
Then the vicar stood up and told us:
Almighty God, have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.
And I need to hear that. God, I need to hear someone say that out loud; that in spite of how I have screwed up and fallen short, God still forgives me.
I imagine that my ideal service would look a little like Frankenstein. There would be elements from a variety of denominations, dabs of high church and low. Ancient liturgy, timeless hymns, and modern music would all be intermingled together. But Eucharist and the Confession/Forgiveness of Sins are two simple things that I wish I could take with me from the Episcopal church and experience each Sunday.