Faith in Progress

A few weeks ago, I wrote about our plans to change things up a bit at St. Aidan's.  For the last three weeks, we've spent the first half of the service, The Liturgy of the Word, in a modified "choir" style seating, with rows of chairs facing each other and a big aisle in the middle.  Then the entire congregation came up to the Altar and stood around it for the entire Liturgy of the Table.  As with any change, there were a few logistical difficulties, especially for the first part of the service.  It was hard to know where exactly to process, where John and I should sit to officiate, where readers should stand since we had no ambo, where to keep the Gospel book.  But, for me at least, there were also some wonderful high points.  I loved reading the psalm responsively and hearing the voices echo back and forth.  I loved when the kids were part of my sermon on Pentecost and it felt like we were gathered in around them.  I lo...

June 12, 2011 Pentecost St. Aidan's Episcopal Church (The kids were a big help with this sermon, as you can see.  They helped "blow" the breath of God, build the Tower of Babel, and acted as disciples.  Anyone familiar with Godly Play will see a lot of crossover.  Thanks, Jerome Berryman!) In the beginning, the very first chapter of the Bible tells us, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.  But the Holy Spirit was there. A wind from God swept over the face of the waters and God began to create. The Holy Spirit was there for the creation of humankind, too. The second chapter of Genesis shows God forming the first human from the dust and breathing into its nostrils the breath of life and what was once dust becomes a living being. All things, including humankind, were declared “good” and we lived in relationship with our Creator. But it wasn’t long before we begin making our way toward division and death. There’s the forbi...

You probably know the biblical story of the first Pentecost from Acts 2: The disciples were all together and "a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind" and "tongues of fire" rested on each one of them and they "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues" and were heard and understood by people from "every nation under heaven." Each year in the Church we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost on the 50th day after Easter, and the season continues for months after. Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church because it is the time when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, and when the mission and expansion of the Good News to people of every nation began in earnest. The movement that had until then been associated with the incarnate person of Jesus broadened, and Jesus' divine life spread to fill the Church. The disciples and new believers began to understand God in a new way, living in them ...