Advent Worship

I am again serving as a "Regional Elder" for District 5 in our region.  This means that I have a  supportive relationship with the pastors and the church from that area that includes Bellfontaine, Ada, Lima, Findlay.  Sunday I drove to Toledo for family Christmas with Lisa (my stepdaughter) and her kids.  On the way I stopped and worshiped at First Christian Church in Findlay to be present in my new role.

Twenty five years ago, when I served as pastor at First Christian Church in Bowling Green,  I had occasions to visit the church in Findlay.  At that time the church was  a  brick  building with large white pillars   on Main street.   It was an impressive and formidable  building.. I had the impression that it was a large and thriving church.  That was then.

Over the years there have been different pastors, some church conflict, cultural changes and the congregation  got smaller and smaller. The costs of the maintenance of the building were more and more daunting.  About 6 years ago they made the decision to sell the building and move the church to a smaller venue.  I remember worshiping there in one of their last Sundays in the old building  with Chuck.  He told me afterward, tearing up, that he saw visions of all the people who used to sit in those now mostly empty pews. They were able to sell the building and then have enough money to fund a full time minister.

 They are now  located in what looks like an office building in a commercial part of the city.  I think they rent a few rooms. That first minister has left and now they have a new minister  who was installed a month ago. He combines this now part time position with work at a charter school.

I walked into the "sanctuary" which is a large rectangular room.  I see a large communion table in the center of the room with a piano on the left and a pulpit on the right.  There is a table set up with a beautiful white ceramic nativity  beside the pulpit.  Between the table and the piano is large Advent Candle.

There are about 50 chairs set up in rows and in the back of the room there are some comfortable looking couches.   I arrive fifteen minutes before the service is to begin and  about 8 people are scattered around the room and talking with the pastor in the front.  Two people are masked.  They are friendly and welcoming and give me a bulletin and a communion kit. I announce myself and sit in the second row.  I visit with the masked woman sitting behind me and we talk about church history.  She has been a member for 60 years, through all the changes. 

Then the pastor and I chat a bit and he introduces his 12 year old son who is sitting in front of me.  He has just moved to Findlay from Michigan.  This is a time of new beginnings for everyone.  Then it is time.

.  By now there are about twenty people in the space - everyone has been greeted and we gather as Christians.   And we worship. All of the  rituals of Advent worship are here:   Candles, Christmas carols, a sermon about Mary and the Annunciation. We receive communion together. For me, there is something comforting and profound about these rituals that define and unite us.   As we sing I experience the joy of  shared voices singing familiar songs.  

The pastor speaks about Mary saying YES to the angel and what a commitment that is.  God is breaking into the world in the coming of Jesus and Mary is a necessary part of the story.  He says that when God comes to us in Jesus - it is not for us to escape the world but  so that we can endure the ways of the world.  This speaks to my heart and to my soul.  

I usually worship at Gender Road Christian Church which has a praise band, a choir, a large and well cared for  building   We have coffee and donuts in the narthex and there are many more people in attendance than here in this out of the way space in Findlay Ohio.  It is a healthy church with faithful committed people.

And I wonder - is it possible that First Christian church in Findlay is also healthy with faithful committed people.   We  worshiped the living God this morning. .  We took an hour out of our lives to gather together and hear and express the good news of God who breaks into this world to  show us the way of love.  

As I sat there in Findlay I wondered what the future of this church will be.  Is it enough to have a loving and faithful pastor and a small band of committed congregants?  Is  it possible that God is  giving birth to a new body of Christ  here in Findlay? 

And as they say - as I frequently  say and mean - God only knows.  I just know that Jesus was born in a stable - not in a palace.  And the people who gathered around Jesus were  small in number and seemingly insignificant. They began a world changing and life altering movement that I am part of today as a follower of Jesus.

I also  know that I experienced God's presence in Findlay Ohio  on Sunday morning. My faith was strengthened because of the prayers, the preaching and the gathering of believers.  

And to quote the angel Gabriel: "For with God, nothing is impossible".

ADVENT BLESSING

May the ADVENT God be with you,

inviting you to an eager expectation of new life within you.

May you know hope,

may you know peace as you await the birth of what is yet to be in you.

May the life you embrace be a sharing in the god of life and incarnation among us.

may the ADVENT GOD BLESS YOU.