a week in worship and prayer and meditation...

okay, so it didn't all happen in the house, but i wanted to share some snapshots of the last week and a half of worship here in the jeremiah community and in the house:

* last thursday we had a pretty politically charged worship at the house with james loney speaking at our 'radically ordinary' formation group - we used his 'litany of resistance' to frame our prayers. it was remembrance day, and jim (who was kidnapped in iraq a few years back) spoke on radical peacemaking.
* on friday at 7:30am we had silent prayers for peace which were led by sharon in the church. by the way, if you have flash installed, check out the church that we call home!
* on saturday night into the wee hours of the am we had 'sound ministry' - a dj-led worship time with lights, lasers, live painters and dancers, sub-bass and intense visuals with a pretty charismatic leaning. this first-time event was led by river attendee adam vegys (dj spiritually minded).
* on sunday - at our weekly river gathering - we celebrated the holy eucharist (as we're apt to do) in a pretty contemplative vein with about 40 folks. meagan from camino house (and the love of my life) reflected on her time as a human rights observer and missionary in the Philippines. deb whalen (one of our regular musicians) did a lot of the music including martyn joseph's turn me tender and alexi murdoch's orange sky. we did a lot of lament. how long o lord?
* monday began with am prayer as guided meditation on scripture in the church and a time to pray silently or aloud for ourselves. it's loosely structured on formal anglican / catholic prayer, but with breathing exercises and gentle music.
* tuesday and wednesday mornings we did prayer tradional anglican prayer from the green book. on tuesday and thursday mornings we pray in the house and there are usually children and infants around to pray with us.
* on wednesday morning i had communion with 11 seniors - most of them Portuguese - at st. anne's tower, a nursing home which backs onto camino house. i had to make up a sermon on the spot on one of the toughest passages in the Bible (it's a long story)... i'm glad most of them didn't understand english.
* wednesday evening was a sensual and mystical candle-lit chanted prayer in the style of the taize community with a dozen or so folks harmonizing in latin, spanish and english and spending time in silence.
* on thursday a few of us did an old style hymn sing at fairview nursing home. this was actually the most moving experience of the week for me as the tears fell down the folks faces as folks were singing 'in the garden' and 'amazing grace'. kenny requested hank william's "i saw the light".
* on thursday night we were supposed to have celtic prayer, but so many folks had the flu in the community, that we cancelled it to be safe.
* early friday morning - sharon led a couple of us in crayon worship - literally challenging us to 'draw out' our experience of hearing Jesus' words in the gospel.

so, something for everyone. maybe something to offend everyone.
how many ways may we come to the Almighty with wonder, awe and delight?

rob.