Rhythm

I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythm lately. Not musical rhythm, but life rhythm and especially church rhythm. I grew up in a church that celebrated communion on the first Sunday of the month. In college my church had communion every week. Different rhythms.

My first experience with small group Bible studies was a weekly commitment. When I came to Helena I met people whose groups met every other week. Different rhythms.

Some churches follow what is called the church year, beginning with Advent, then Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension Sunday, Pentecost, and so on. Other churches only observe Christmas and Easter. Different rhythms.

In Seattle I met with church planters who are trying out different rhythms. Some are celebrating communion every week. Some aren’t even meeting for worship every week. One church in particular meets for worship monthly and then as smaller houses churches on two of the other weeks and then does community outreach and service on the final week. It’s a different rhythm.

The Bible gives us a lot of leeway here. The book of Acts describes the believers meeting daily together (Acts 2:42-47). The book of Hebrews simply encourages us to not neglect meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). Paul’s instructions about communion in 1 Corinthians 11 give me the impression that communion was something they celebrated quite frequently. Nevertheless, the Bible does not dictate specifically how or how often we are to gather for worship, when to celebrate communion, how to incorporate teaching and outreach and so on.

One of the dangers is thinking that there is only one correct rhythm to all of this. As we establish this church we’ll be thinking about this, talking about this, praying about this. We want to find a rhythm that incorporates worship and outreach, teaching and service, prayer and fun, times of engagement and times of rest.

The future is wide open right now. Pray that we’ll find a rhythm that honors God and gives us life.