Announcements

by Brent Levy, Christ UMC: Chatham Park Campus (Chapel Hill)

At its most basic, worship is a response — a response to what God has done and is doing in our lives and a looking ahead with expectation to what God will do. Has God done something in your life? Have you seen Jesus in your midst? Maybe you’ve witnessed neighbors helping one another, or had a friend who’s given you space to say how you really feel. Maybe you’ve embraced a weary traveler or been embraced, yourself. If any of these are true, you are ready to respond. You are ready for worship. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It can have a loose planned structure, or it can be an open time to come together. It might even feel a bit unusual. But worship can happen anywhere, and there are only four simple things you need.

1. People
First, you need people. Worship is better with friends. As a people called to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, we gather as different people from different places with different experiences and different lives lived. We bring all of that to our worship. We gather to give voice to what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives, and there is no gathering without people. Maybe it looks like a community getting together in someone’s backyard. Maybe it’s a family huddled together in a living room. Maybe it’s a group of people in an unfamiliar space or out under a tent in the midst of God’s creation. Wherever it is, if you have people, you are ready for worship.

2. Scripture
Second, grab a Bible, or pull out your phone, or dig deep to those passages you’ve memorized through the years. If you have access to scripture in some way, you can worship. Maybe you want to recite a psalm together — something that speaks to your experience of lament and longing and the faithfulness of God. Or perhaps you need to hear again the hope-filled words of Jesus who says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and who reminds you that “You are the light of the world.” Maybe you need the good news that Jesus is making all things new. Wherever you are gathering, these life-giving words can wash over you, reorient you, and transform you. If you have scripture, you can worship.

3. Voice
Third, you get to respond. In worship, God speaks, and we respond. Sometimes it happens when we receive an offering. At other times we respond by celebrating Holy Communion. Wherever you are, if you have a voice, you can respond. In this way, the scripture you heard can come alive and become part of you. Maybe someone stands to share about how the passage spoke to her experience. Perhaps you want to share a question you’re asking yourself — something that was stirred up by what you heard. Or maybe you’re invited to offer a word or phrase that struck you, and you invite others to share what resonated with them. Perhaps your response is a familiar hymn sung together a cappella or a guitar-led song offered on behalf of the people. Maybe it’s a collection of prayer requests so those who have gathered know they’re not alone. Or your response could look like a conversation around a meal, giving thanks for the gift of being together. If you have voice, you can respond. If you have voice, you can worship. 

4. The Holy Spirit
Finally, if you have the Holy Spirit, worship can happen. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is already there — wherever you are! Whether you are in sitting in a circle in a meeting room or gathered around a kitchen table with a candle lit in the center… whether you are standing under a tent in an open field or kneeling in an unfamiliar sanctuary, it’s the Spirit of God that has called you together. That same Spirit is present as the scripture is read from a pulpit or the middle of a circle or recited in unison. And it’s this same Holy Spirit that empowers and enables you to respond. Maybe your worship feels like holy chaos or perhaps it’s a balm for your soul. Regardless, you can trust that wherever you are, as you respond to what God has done, is doing, and will do in your life, the Spirit of God is there witnessing to your spirit, working to bring you peace that surpasses understanding and the assurance of God’s love — until you gather again.

Author’s Note: If you are seeking something more concrete than what I offer above, An Order for Morning Praise and Prayer in the United Methodist Hymnal (UMH 876) serves as a great liturgy for an order of service. The daily prayer found in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals is also good resource.

by The Rev. Chris Jenkins and The Rev. Greg Moore

Hurricane, flood, and storm-related disasters usually unfold over time. As we watch on television and our various media outlets, we see the devastation, are moved with compassion and want to respond right now! The following are five steps to assess the needs in your community following a disaster.

Step 1: See

First, we must ask the fundamental Christian question, “Who is missing from the table?” We know that our primary task as Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ, is to share the Good News, in other words, tell everyone they are invited to God’s heavenly banquet. Look around your community. Who is missing from the table of the heavenly banquet (communion) table you are helping prepare? That’s the first step.

Action: Prayer Walk

Prayer is paying attention.

Walk around your community and pay attention to what you see. Take a notebook. Talk to people you meet. Ask how they are and what they need.

As you walk, ask four questions:

1. Who do we see?
2. Who don’t we see?
3. What do we see?
4. What don’t we see?

Step 2: Share

Second, begin observing and naming the similarities and the differences all of these neighbors share with you.

What seems to be their (our) biggest life struggles? What do they (we) seem to fear? What do they (we) seem to value? What seems to be their (our) greatest strengths (individually and culturally)? What seems to be their (our) greatest needs (individually and culturally?) These and similar questions will most likely lead you to discover how incredibly similar we all are in our life journeys, in spite of our incredible individual and cultural diversity.

Action: Asset Map and Share Needs

Once you know what shared needs exist, share those needs with your District Superintendent, District Disaster Response Coordinator, or the appropriate resource centers.

Based on what you see on your prayer walk, make a map of resources you find in your community. Some examples may be shared concerns, physical assets (buildings, tools, vehicles, etc.) important relationships (who is already connected to whom?).

The “map” can be an actual map, marking the location of these assets, or it can be a simple spreadsheet listing where people and resources connect and share strength and life.

Step 3: Invite

Third, now that you’ve seen the community with new eyes, and understood connections that are already there or waiting to be made, begin asking questions like, “Why haven’t we connected before?” and “What keeps us apart?”

Gather with some of the people you have met in your prayer walks who can help you with this and begin comparing notes. What did we think before we began getting to know them compared to what we think now? What were our prior assumptions, biases, and attitudes and how is God now working to change these in us? How is this conversation forming and shaping our ideas, plans, strategies, and commitment?

Action: Build a list of people to invite to help in the recovery effort.

Invite others from the community who are not a part of your church to help join the effort to care for the community.

Invite them to help clean up yards, remove possessions from flooded homes, connect with a church in a partnering district, or volunteer at a distribution/collection center.

Make sure to help them know that this is not something you are doing for them, but that this is something you are seeking to do with them as you care for your shared community together.

Step 4: Empower

Fourth, we ask another profound question, “If not us, who? If not now, when?” Let me forewarn you that if you and your congregation have made it through these first four steps, you will feel yourselves coming back to life, almost like someone announcing “I once was blind, but now I see!” You will be talking and celebrating about how life-giving this process has been for you. Now, I can’t make any guarantee to this effect, but I can tell you it was and is true for me, and that I’ve never known of anyone who has done such work that didn’t report that their heart was strangely warmed, or even set afire, or something to that effect.

Action: Empower Others For Leadership

When responding to the needs and assets of a community, it is important to invite others into leadership of the effort. Make sure that this is not an attempt to grow your church but a gift your church is offering to the community.

Mobilize others to lead prayer walks and add to the asset map.

Ask others to help host a gathering (even if it’s outside) or to invite people they know to help care for the community.

Schedule regular times to go to hard-hit areas with your church and community members so people can serve.

The key here is not to do it all alone. Leadership is not dismissed by sharing it. It gets stronger the more you give it away.

Step 5: Celebrate

Finally, or perhaps most effectively, simultaneously through all of the other four steps, we pray and give thanks for what we are learning and those we are connecting with. We pray for God to open our eyes that we might better see, and open our ears that we might better hear, and open our hearts that we might better understand and respond to whatever God is showing us and leading us into. We pray that we will have the wisdom, courage, and faith to act. We pray that we will trust and believe God’s promise to provide what we need (people, resources, funding, everything needed) while we make building God’s kingdom, inviting everyone to the banquet and caring for all as they find their way to the table.

Action: Hold Ecumenical Worship/Prayer Services

Now is the time to connect with other faith communities who are also trying to care for the community at large, and plan to pray and gather together. If one of you has been displaced, the other can offer space for the gathering. If all have been, consider holding joint mobile worship services (see our article on 5 Essentials for Mobile Worship – coming soon).