Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sundays @ 7: Intentional Community of Prayer


Tonight was our first ever Sundays @ 7 service.  We created it because people have asked us to have a First Fridays every week.  A full Eucharist every week doesn't fit our schedule or Bruton's, but we've been trying to figure out how to have a weekly offering at a time that is convenient for people.  For awhile we thought about doing a dinner church a la St. Lydia's in Brooklyn, but the thought of cooking dinner for a group of people is so stressful to me that I just couldn't figure it out.  Neither Jan nor I are cooks, and SpiritWorks doesn't have a kitchen.  One day "Sundays @ 7" popped into Jan's head, and in our minds it was also "Sundaes @ 7."  Ice cream sundaes don't stress me out at all!  Admittedly I hadn't planned on making homemade ice cream, but a little help from William Sonoma, and voila!  Homemade vanilla and mocha chip ice cream. 

The purpose of the service is to create an intentional community of prayer, not unlike Richmond Hill.  They pray for the City of Richmond.  We pray for those who have been affected by addiction.  So I started to develop a service based on Evening Prayer and then I switched to Compline.  In the end it's really a prayer and song service.  Jan and I accompanied the singing on djembe drums, and those who came joined in with shakers and other percussion instruments.  We had a time of silence like they do at Nadia Bolz-Weber's church, in which people could pray or light candles or write prayer requests on notecards to be read during the intercessions.  We used a singing bell to begin and end the silence.  One of my favorite parts was using the Taizé song "O Lord hear my Prayer" in between each set of petitions during the Intercessions.  We pray for those struggling with addiction, family and friends, those who support people affected by addiction, people in recovery, and people who have died.  We include community organizations, first responders, sponsors, mentors, etc. We used the Gospel reading from the daily office, and I did a reflection about the feeding of the 4000.  We also had a recovery reading and a Psalm.  We ended with "Holy Manna," complete with drums and shakers.

The only thing that I didn't like about the service was that a train went through during the intercessions, and we are right across the street from the train.  Hard to be heard over a train!  But other than that, I was so delighted with the service.  I've never been brave enough to lead music with my drum before, but I had observed someone doing that earlier in the week and decided that I could do it.  We had fun creating the altar with items that we collected from around SpiritWorks.  We turned our little pavilion which is usually the designated smoking area into a sacred space, a space for prayer and worship.  Of course, being outdoors on a cool night with a breeze and sunshine was just the icing on the cake.  Well, except for the actual icing on the cake. 

I might not be able to cook dinner, but I can bake!  We sang happy birthday to Jan whose birthday is tomorrow, and everyone enjoyed a little sweet feast after the service.  So grateful for the beautiful day and the people who came and the stress-free set-up and that I was able to give my little reflection without a manuscript and that everyone participated in making music together and praying together.  I hope the service will grow as we continue each Sunday evening this summer, AND I was grateful for the 8 people we had.  Eight is enough to start a community, and start it we did, with reverence and gratitude and joy for all we have been given in our recovery.

"Taste and see the grace eternal.
Taste and see that God is good."  -Sylvia G. Dunston, All Who Hunger Gather Gladly

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