March 30th - This I Believe

Before I write about the subject that is the title of this blog I thought it is strange how what you volunteer to do for worship changes your perception of worship.

I think there are those who appreciate the music but may not reflect back on the songs after worship. Yet when I play guitar and or sing to contribute to music there is a heightened awareness of what is working and what is not.

For the first service Mary did Altar Care set up and asked for my help. Suddenly I was at a loss trying to remember all the details. Which chalices shold be used, which side of the altar does the wine go on versus the grape juice, whether the bread was there were all concerns that seemed to be of more pressing concern than usual.

The anxiousness had settled by Pr. Dayle's sermon Certainly a powerful experience we shared at this worship was discussing what we believed in with one another during the sermon. Pr. Dayle invited us to do this. She talked about how on Morning Edition on NPR there is a segment called This I Believe where people talk about where there deepest faith resides.

All of us stumbled a bit for words in our group. Diane discussed her faith that moved from a belief that the world is changing for the better to more skepticism at times. Scott talked about his strong, optimistic faith in the power of God to change the world. I tried to express the feeling of floating on a faith. Sometimes I felt myself sinking but afterwards always found myself buoyed up to float once again. Mary expressed her faith as it is expressed in the Creed.

Everyone appeared energized by these expressions. I wondered about both the unity and the diversity of our expressions of faith. This will certainly not be the last time we share our faith with one another.