Often we are asked to describe our large group Sunday worship gatherings at Williamsburg Christian Church.
This is our attempt to capture our gathering in words.
Each Sunday we are called together, as one people, to hear God speak; after we are sent back into the world for His mission. Our communal worship both determines and reinforces our identity and mission through our liturgies of praise, ritual, and symbol; this is why we believe that it is, in a sense, a rehearsal of what should happen in and through our lives Monday through Saturday. In our worship gatherings we seek to nurture a faith that leads us away from merely working for God to working with God; from merely gathering for God to gathering with God. Worship forms our imaginations with a ‘kingdom-shaped’ perspective. Our Sunday liturgy, what we do when we come together, seeks to model our way of life--the way of blessing, the cultivation of the common life rooted in our true identity, and the preparation for mission.
In the music our hearts are provoked to call out to God in praise, thanksgiving, lament, and confession. We also “teach one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” as we declare God’s faithful love and holy presence in, among, and through us as citizens of His kingdom.
In the Confession & Proclamation we confess and proclaim the realties of our faith in Jesus as Lord and His in-breaking kingdom, as revealed to us through the Scriptures. If our hearts are open we can be formed by the confession and proclamation of these truths as we read Scripture aloud as one body, with one voice.
In the Big Idea we welcome all the children among us to come up to the front where together we learn a "Big Idea" from the Scriptures. We join with them in imagining a world where God’s redemptive love breaks in among us. We march around the walls of Jericho together or dance in celebration because we "found the lost sheep." We've come to believe that as adults we need God’s Spirit to form within us a biblical imagination and a childlike faith. The best way to do that is to let the children draw us in. There is something they can teach us. So it is important to know that our children begin each gathering with us as we sing to God, proclaim our Rule of Life, confess the realties of our faith through the public reading of Scripture, and publicly pray together with one voice. After the Big Idea all children and students (all ages) are dismissed for age-appropriate small groups.
In the time we call Practicing the Presence of God Scripture is read aloud and we sit together in silence for a few minutes. As our lives are filled with many “voices” seeking our attention and affection, this time of silence trains us to make room in our hurried hearts and anxious minds to hear and discern the Spirit’s voice. If God is present within and among us, and if we are willing to practice hospitality toward Him by making room for Him to speak, we believe He will do so as we learn to be still and know that He is God.
In the teaching, preaching, and public discussion of Scripture our imaginations are stirred to envision the world our trinitarian God is creating through Jesus our Lord, His intentions with it, and what it looks like to live as though Jesus is the Lord who is making all things new. Through the proclamation and discussion of Scripture we are reminded of our place within God’s work. Some Sundays we will preach. Some Sundays we will practice lectio devina. Some Sundays we will engage in open conversation. Some times we will do a mix of either. But each Sunday the Scriptures are engaged as God’s inspired witness of the Living Word that became flesh, King Jesus. This naturally leads us to His Table.
At the Eucharist Table we share in the Bread and Wine as we practice remembrance, gratefulness, celebration and experience a renewed imagination. Some call this time “Communion,” some “Lord’s Supper,” and others, “Eucharist.” Eucharist is the weekly rehearsal of the gospel narrative that prepares us for mission: the practice of receiving the welcome of Christ. As we partake of the bread and wine with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with Christ’s universal Church. It is in this practice we acknowledge both our need and common belonging, which becomes our training for life in the world. The same kind of welcome extended to us by Christ becomes the same kind of welcome we extend to others. If we understand the Eucharist this way, our personal tables become an extension of the Lord’s table. Our lunch tables become extensions of the Lord’s table. Our cubicles become extensions of the Lord’s table–because we remember that we are to be as welcoming to the person who cleans our trash as to the person who signs our paychecks.
In the Offering we share in the needs of one another, our city, and our world as we give to God and His mission. In our giving we are trained to be freed from the things we own. We are reminded that all is gift because all comes from God.
Finally, we enjoy one another’s company. We reconnect with those we rarely see throughout the week and to those we see often. We are reminded that our immediate family in Christ is bigger than those with whom we spend a great deal of our time. As we gather we want to encourage one another to “hold fast to our confession” and “consider how to stir up one another in love and good works.”
A Benediction, or blessing, is pronounced as we close our gathering and leave as a people sent by God to bear witness to all we have seen and heard.
Of course, our Sunday gathering is not the only way we live as a church family. We embrace other shared practices. We are also a collective of missional communities that gather throughout the week in neighborhoods for the sake of deepening our love for God, one another, and those living in our neighborhoods as we seek to be present there as a blessing. But as we participate in the larger Sunday gathering, rather than sit back as spectators, our lives are transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ and we are ready to once again participate in what He is doing in the world through His Church.
For more information, please contact us at admin@williamsburgchristianchurch.org.