Good Friday Event

I would like to tell you about a special event we had at our church on Good Friday evening. We wanted people to experience in as personal and participative a way as possible, the suffering that Jesus went through on that great and terrible day.

We had two rooms. The first room was a contemplation and music room (see picture) where people viewed images of Jesus’ suffering, the poor and homeless, sang an occasional song, read Scriptures from the gospel accounts and other thought provoking texts as well, like poetry. They faded in and out. We kept them fast enough to keep their interest, but slow enough to allow them to contemplate. In the background was a guy playing an acoustic guitar quietly.

People were taken from this room to our main gathering room where we normally have church. This area had several stations which I will describe in detail below. We had the group stand around the table/station and the guide stood behind them and read from a prepared text. We basically followed Matthew’s account, but we inserted from Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 some verses at appropriate times. During the whole time in this main room we had a song playing: Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Jars of Clay. It is a very catchy and memorable tune.

Station One: Jesus was condemned. Here we read the account of Pilot’s caving in to the crowd and declaring he is innocent of this man’s blood. Each person washed their hands in slightly red water. There was a rope that bound Jesus’ hands perhaps, and a gavel representing the sentencing we all handed down.

Station Two: Jesus was scourged and mocked. There was a scarlet piece of cloth that the soldiers mocked him with. There were thorns there that each person was encouraged to touch, and pictures of a whip, as well as some branches to give it a more realistic feel.

Station Three: Jesus receives his cross and Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry it for him. There were rocks on this table that we asked people to carry which symbolized, not just the weight of the cross, but the weight of our sin.

Station Four: The crucifixion of Jesus. Here we basically had 3 areas.

1. The first was a table where we had three large nails and a candle representing that we rejected Jesus as the light of the world.

   

2. The second was an actual cross where we carried our rocks to. We used our rocks to pound a nail into the cross and then left our rocks there, symbolizing that we nailed Jesus to the cross but that we leave our sins there at the cross.
3. The third was a common work of symbolic art. Basically we dipped our hands in paint and put the paint on a piece of linen in the shape of the cross This symbolized that we all had a hand in Jesus death. This is eventually going to be a piece of art for our church.

Station Five: The death of Jesus. We went into a small room and read some verses of Scripture and tasted the wine vinegar that Jesus tasted and then turned off the lights as even the lights of heaven mourned the death of the Savior. We stood there in total darkness until it was too uncomfortable.

Station Six: The burial of Jesus. At this station we looked at a wrapped body lying on a table. We read the scriptures and were told to think about the death of Jesus and the suffering that he endured and then also to go home and wait.

Response: This table was for response, where people wrote in our journal, on papers that they left there, or took with them about their reaction to the event.

About 60+ people went through and everyone that we talked to had a most favorable reaction.

The follow-up on Sunday was that we had the strips of linen on the cross and I let them cut a piece of the linen cloth because, you know, Jesus doesn’t really need it anymore!

Thanks for praying for this event it went better than I had planned.

Blessings,

David

Core Values

I have a question for readers of my blog: Should a church's core values be placed on their website? If so, why? If not, why not?

I see both sides of the issue. On the one hand, interested people should be able to know what the church sees as its core values. After all, these values have been written down to serve as a public resource for the church's general direction.

On the other hand, isn't that just marketing to church people? Who reads these core values anyway? Shouldn't core values be an internal document for the church and its leadership to use when making decisions?

Talk to me!

Response to neformalai

Here is the English response I posted in Lithuanian on neformalai. I am sorry that it took so long to post in both locations!

Hello!

My name is David. I am the pastor of Kelyje. Thank you for you suggestions and comments. It seems that there are 47 already. I am shocked!

First I want say that the coffee is not the point! Understand it is clear that our form is different but we think that the form must fulfill some function. This means that we must first talk about the function of the church gathering.

The church’s primary functions (we can’t separate them) are to worship God, encourage one another, participate in the Lord’s Supper, etc. We need to understand that if we would be in Africa or China the forms would be even more different, right?

Of course we have only begun and are ready to change and to readjust. As it is written in the subtitle of one book, we are an “experimental church.”

I am sure that many of you doubt that we can worship God while drinking coffee. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding. Too often we separate “holy things” from “worldly things.”

Can we only worship God on our knees, or lifting hands in prayer? What is reverence? Is silence reverence? Is God so boring that to be in his presence we must be uncomfortable? Perhaps the traditional (Evangelical, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, or other) church’s form actually does prevent the church from growing as Dangis has written?

There is no doubt value in tradition; one cannot escape its influence. Yet, we must be conscious of our context and seek to make our gatherings meaningful. For example, the Lord’s supper was instituted by Christ himself and we are reminded in a small way of what “form” that is supposed to take by Paul. But sill that is not completely clear. In order to keep it understandable in today’s context we must review and remind people about the meaningfulness of the bread and wine and its primary context within the Passover story of Judaism. We must keep this story alive.

However, when it comes to other traditions, standing, kneeling, sitting, singing, reading responsively, listening or discussing, lifting hands, lighting candles, burning incense, or other things that I can’t think of, I think God doesn’t really care. What God cares about is that our heart is right. Remember, the Pharisees were meticulous in their keeping of the law (religious gatherings forms) but their hearts were not right. Jesus on the other hand got into all sorts of trouble because he ate with the tax collectors, prostitutes, and enjoyed a good party! He was even accused of being a glutton and a drunkard! Yet, Jesus lived a sinless life.

There is meaning in the form of worship and the form of the gatherings. However, that meaning is not fixed. That is, it can change over time or in different places. Meanings are derived to the meaning we assign to them as a culture, community or church. It is possible to assign new meanings, reinterpret old meanings, or revitalize meanings in an effort to make them more meaningful or relevant to our day.

The modern age is passing and the postmodern age is arriving. Too often we have, without thinking fully about the implications, just accepted the modern traditional “forms” as “normal” and “acceptable” for our postmodern time. Is it possible that during this transitional time there will be a lot of trial and error? Of this possibility I am sure. We at “Kelyje” are experimenting with new forms and new meanings, redefining and revitalizing the old traditions and traditional concepts. Basically, everything is on the table for discussion in terms of forms and meanings, even our traditional theological understandings. While we realize that this will bring up a lot of questions and doubts about our “orthodoxy” we are open to talking about all of this. I think God can handle the questioning. Actually, I think it is quite good for us.

I hope that this is the first of many conversations. I have started my own blog here and Kelyje has a blog here. The best way to get acquainted with what is going on at Kelyje is to join us at one of our Sunday gatherings at 16:00. Please do not misinterpret this as “sheep stealing!” This is not my desire or my intent! If you are going to a church keep going! That doesn’t mean you can’t stop in and check us out and see for yourself what we are doing. If you don’t attend anywhere or if you are not a follower of Jesus, I personally want to invite you to check us out.