musings on the emerging church

wow - how to describe the liturgy at church of the apostles, seattle, under the gentle leadership of karen ward. i tried to write a post about it that turned into a small essay and then disappeared into the ether when i tried to publish, so this time i will be short and hope it gets up.

if i were to interpret the worship from the point of the view of 'traditional anglican/episcopal liturgy'then one has to say that its fairly trad and maintains an orthodox liturgical shape of gathering, ministry of the word, ministry of the sacrament, and dismissal. karen says that some have described cota as 'digital orthodoxy' and i would have to agree. they are orthodox. however, the rub is in the details!

language: its fresh to say the least: you get a thin sheet when you arrive that basically is an outline of the liturgy. it renames the elements so now its:

focus (gathering and welcome)

wisdom (scripture and sermon and prayers. the sermon is 'reverb')

fuel (the communion)

movement (final blessing and dismissal)

being pentecost sunday it was nice to have the scriptures read in different languages: bosnian, german, chinese, and american sign language

space: the space is a small shop front at 4301 fremont ave n seattle. its called 'living:room' and also hosts a arts collective and various music offerings and other creative artistic events in seattle. it would seat 70 at a pich (about 45-50 on the night i was there) small stage at one end which the band uses. shop counter at the other end which has the mixer desk and laptop which drives the data projection (no 2nd rate powerpoint here - using the gifts of ryan and others the visual aspects are tight and well put together -video loops, interesting slides, good transition slides and with a strong enough projection system to be able to see in good light.

there are chairs around the place, some small tables, lounges, lava lamps and in front of the low set altar (which is off set to the left) are some beautifully crafted lights which look like flames. candles abound everywhere. good sound system with the band (lead, bass, drums, flute, electric piano)there is art from zappon on the walls and the place has a warm, comfortable feel of a real living room. there is a fridge offering sodas and beer and of course great fair-trade coffee and tea off in one corner.

the place is set up for wireless so people can bring there laptops and be online for free. there is a computer there for online stuff and surfing as well

music:
the music is not overpowering from the band. lacey brown is the music director and she is multi-talented. it has the feel of edgy rock. they do not play praise - no 'i just wanna praise you lord' choruses here! there is enough talent to change the line up from week to week and the style keeps changing (dj's and are a regular feature and part of the process of reaching into the arts community of fremont seattle) three songs during the liturgy and recorded stuff during the communion

communion:

karen writes her own thanksgiving prayers using resources from the deep heritage of orthodox, anglican and lutheran sources. again the laguage is fresh. she doesnt robe and her presence is low key - yet can she preach. her sermon using the images from the 'burning man' festival was excellent - punchy and to the point (about 11minutes) theme: we need to burn for jesus - the real burning man.

hospitality:
great coffee, fried chicken dinner afterwards in the space (gospel bird dinner!)plenty of cards outlining what cota is on about available for newcomers and of course a great web site (www.apostleschurch.org)

what did i think:

here is an approach to worship that is vibrant and fresh yet deeply rooted in tradition. it is liturgical yet digital and free flowing - has great use of symbols and space. one part of the liturgy i forgot about is the open space after the reverb where people can say private prayers, write a prayer or light a candle. given more space this would work even better than it does. the age demographic would be mid 20's

qustions for me to ponder and others to comment on:

what is the ideal size of a worship community. the intimacy of cota is something lost in say a 'mars hill' or other big sized worship experience. is small the way to go - but how to fund it?

who is the worship for? disaffected christians who want worship which is relevant to them and that speaks fresh words of hope/ those off the street with no background in the faith whatsoever? - dare i mention the dirty 'e' word - evangelism - are 'emerging churches' ones where evangelism is a 2nd order question

what is the relationship of these models to the establishment and old order?

anyway, i thin thats enough for now...