community sermons from 'average bunch of people not particularly overgifted in any direction' church

i don't really know much about ashley church other than that i have liased with sue rockhill who is part of it through the wonders of our connected world online following her being at spring harvest. anyway we liased about the labyrinth meditations but it came up in conversation that they were being used as part of a community sermon. i immediately liked the sound of it - anything is normally better than one person speaking with the rest listening as far as i am concerned. so i asked sue to tell me a bit more about it and in her words...

we were a fairly average bunch of people - not particularly overgifted in any one direction, so apart from odd bits of brilliance we are working from ordinary lives in a fairly bumbling way.

Community sermons happen about once every school term. The congregation is given the title and the date and left to bring what they think will add something to the subject. Recent Community Sermons have included; writing the story of Christmas in 30 words;describing bible characters and the work of the Holy Spirit in them through limericks (that was a lot of fun!) And the most recent, called In the Gap was a look at what happened between Easter and Pentecost. There are very few rules - probably none actually. Even 'Christmas in 30 words' was modified by someone of artistic leaning to be Christmas in thirty strokes of the brush.  The most recent was the most energetic Sermon, since it involved walking a labyrinth, but everything is optional and there were paintings to look at and writing people had done on the subject, as well as quiet corners to pray in and of course the coffee lounge, where we think God is most likely to be hanging around. Community Sermons demand a lot of flexibility from the leader, who will turn up on the morning perhaps knowing that one or two people have mentioned that they have something to bring, but will not know whether there is anyone else with something or not. Ours is a fairly relaxed church and if there was really nothing we would probably go and have coffee, but so far there have always been people with things to say or show, so it has never come to that!

i don't want to start a new fad (god save us from that) but i do like the notion of bumbling church or average bunch of people not particularly overgifted in any direction church. of course so called average does as sue says allow people to express their gifts and one of the pieces in the last sermon was a lead cast plaque! i am making this worship trick 65 in series 3 . the notion of the community creating worship/sermons out of the community and their gifts is what worship is all about - the work of the people and all that...

Comments

[steve taylor]

"bumbling church or average bunch of people not particularly overgifted in any direction church" - doesn't that happen every Sunday in countless buildings and places all over the globe? (not Community sermons mentioned here, but simply the fact that worship is usually volunteers, after long weeks, offering something out of a love for Jesus.

steve

[Marie Page]

I really like this. We so often think that learned people or "creative" types are those who should lead us in our journies of faith. So good that everyone has something to bring.

[Liz Bidgood Enders]

We used to do something similar in seminary. We called it a 1 Cor. 14 style worship (1. Cor. 14:26) I tried it with the congregation I serve a few months ago, calling it a potluck style worship, and it went over really well. There was a bit of a slow start, and I definitely identify with wondering how many might share, but people named it as one of the most memorable services they had been part of. A dad and daughter did a little puppet show, several shared favorite hymns, a few named scriptures that have been powerful, and others gave small testimonies. It's about as ancient a Christian practice as there is, but it felt wonderfully fresh and exciting.