More rhythm

Do you like juggling lots of activities, responsibilities, and commitments? Some days it seems like there are no end of meetings, calls to make, and multiple activities for the kids... somehow dinner needs to get made and the house should be cleaned... and wouldn't it be nice to have some peace and quiet to pray, maybe even get eight hours of sleep, maybe enjoy a movie...
Just being an American keeps us plenty busy. And then try following Jesus. Attend worship services. Go to small group. Volunteer. Serve. Go on that retreat, attend that seminar, lead that committee.

Pretty soon life is hectic. The rhythm is more complex than something from an avant-garde Elliott Carter string quartet (which is some pretty crazy, chaotic stuff). Pretty soon you want things to just slow down, you just want a break.

As we embark on this journey of starting a new church, we want to develop a rhythm that is life-giving, not crazy and demanding. So we've been talking about creative ways to incorporate all that God calls us to--worship, growing in faith, serving others, reaching out to the community, prayer, celebration, rest, and so on--into a healthy rhythm. We can't do everything every day. We can't even do it all every week! Our ideas are still a work in progress, but soon I'll be going into more detail about what we think this rhythm will actually look like.

But now it's Friday afternoon and we're ready for the getting-a-relaxing-dinner part of the rhythm...

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.