The bell inviting the faithful to worship was just beginning to sound as I got out of my car. I wonder how the neighbors of this residential neighborhood respond to the bells from St Nicholas Parish...certainly the one bell calling the faithful would be easy to miss, but when the entire chorus of bells celebrates the beginning of the liturgy - oh my! The sound is so - incredible - that it resonates through everything (including me).
I quietly slip into the nave - the church is dark, except for a few candles. The choir is gathering, and last minute preparations are under way. I sit on a bench against the back wall. Two people enter who I've seen during my visits here the past two years. They nod in recognition. An elderly lady sits next to me - we share a smile. She either doesn't speak English, or doesn't speak English in this setting. But smiling is a universal language.
And then the bells start to sing - all of them - it is an amazing sound! I notice my eyes welling up with tears as every cell in my body resonates with the peal of the bells. And then before the bells finish, the church is full of people - my how this congregation has grown! Children and elders, teens and thirty-somethings. Plenty of gray haired saints, and children sleeping in their parent's arms. It is so full that I cannot even see the iconostasis from where I am sitting - all I can see are people! What a blessing for this parish!
But then I look up and see a beautiful icon of Christ the Teacher right at the center of the ceiling - presiding over the experience as if looking down from heaven - I have something to gaze upon after all! Worship begins. The choir is glorious - the air thick with a lovely incense - more candles are lit as we move in the liturgy from darkness to light. I find myself singing some of the chants - amazed that the words and melody stay recorded in my body from year to year...amazed at how my body follows the rhythm of the liturgy as I am swept up in the beauty of the experience. Glory.
As incredible as the experience is, what I find to be truly amazing is how all these individuals in this growing parish manage to come together to form a cohesive worshipping body, without the assistance of printed bulletins, hymnals, projectors and screens. The church growth gurus would say this is impossible, given what we know about church behaviors that invite growth.
And yet, the sanctuary was full tonight - double the people who were here last year at this time. No separate program for the children - no printed music or bulletin to follow - everyone united in their desire to create something of beauty and meaning together.
Together.
I observed their creation, and also was blessed to be part of it. And although, for theological reasons, I am quite happy serving the UCC, I wonder if, perhaps, we might learn a thing or two from our sisters and brothers who approach worship and community in ways different from our own.
Beauty - transcendence - whole body worship practices - intergenerational participation - glory!
I can still hear the bells ringing in my heart, as they call me into joy!
Tomorrow at 6 pm marks the beginning of my last Intensive here at SFTS. Let the experience begin!
With joy,
Kim
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