Well, I didn't get that!

It's a long story, but my hubbie and I were invited to a church in the neighbouring parish to my home church today. The style of the service was such I'm still not sure what the theme of the service or point of the sermon was.

The service set-up on the surface appears quite modern. Many people have role in the service, there is no pulpit at all and a praise band leads part of the worship. However, there are some very traditional elements which did not sit well with the general style, in my opinion. For example, the bible in formally processed in and the congregation stands for this and the congregation are invited to stand during the Lord's prayer.

There didn't appear to be a coherent theme running through the service. The children's talk was the story of Ruth, the opening prayer was in relation to harvest, the sermon was based on this reading and the prayer of intercession (I think, given it's position and the themes in the other prayers) was for the congregation.

While some of the elements were well presented, the message from them was not clear. Just after the children left for young church 2 mediations were read, apparently in relation to harvest. I think meditations can be a very good way of expressing biblical truth simply, when they are either self-explanatory or are explained. The ones used in the service may have been self-explanatory, but I didn't get how they related to harvest. Also, the sermon was an excellent presentation. The minister worked without notes at all (which is the norm apparently), he had many anecdotes and a good style of presentation, but there was no conclusion, just a series of scenarios - an interpretation of what would Jesus have said to a possessive parent, for example. While the examples were helpful for the congregation to relate to the passage, they were used as the conclusion, leaving me wondering eh, have I missed something?

Overall, there were 10 people involved in worship. The minister, two people leading the prayers, one reading the meditation, one reading the bible passage, one doing the welcome and intimations and four in the praise band. While I applaud those others than the minister being involved in the service, I felt this was a bit excessive. They all appeared from their seats during the service, rather than sitting at the front or together. I found this very distracting.

I know this all sounds very negative, but I really didn't get anything from the service and felt there was a lot of (to quote part of one of the hymns) "we want to worship you" going on. Well, stop wanting to and actually get on with it! I know I don't always get the point the minister may have been trying to get across, but I like to come away with something - challenged, empowered, uplifted - I don't mind, as long as I come away with something. With this service I was left empty.

I know I am noticing things because I am analysing things at the moment, but even my hubbie was picking up on some of it. The thing I find funny is I know many people in that church think their service is the way to do it and can't understand why other churches do it differently or other people don't necessarily like their style of worship. Fortunately, the Kirk is a broad church and their is room for a broad range of people and worship styles, as today's experience prove.