Epic Lenten Service

Not to toot my own horn, but our Lenten service tonight rocked! I was a bit apprehensive, given the amount of “different” stuff I have had the congregation do in the last month, but they really jumped in again, surprising me.

A week ago Monday, I laid a simple, square, 7-circuit labyrinth out on the fellowship hall floor with masking tape. It was supposed to be for worship last Wednesday, but due to nasty weather and roads, we had to cancel the service. So I just left it on the floor, used it for confirmation class this Sunday, let the kids play with it during fellowship hour and planned to use it for services tonight.

To start the evening, we had supper of tacos and ice cream. Not your usual Lenten supper fare, but it was really good. I heard lots of comments about how surprising it was that this many people showed up for Lenten service. Evidently, the historical average around there is between 15 and 20. The week before last we had close to 60. This week we had just over 40.

After supper, I asked a few of the youth who were hanging around to move chairs so they lined the outside of the labyrinth. A little before 7, I lit the candles on the little altar I set up the first week of Lent and the larger candle in the sand (a kitchen roaster, lined with a purple tablecloth full of sand, sitting on a small table) at the center of the labyrinth. We started with announcements, then sang “Bless the Lord,” a Taize chant. M played guitar.

Then I read the passage in Luke about the men on the road to Emmaus and spoke a little about walking and the history and purpose of labyrinths. I gave instructions and sat down.

After a few minutes, no one was making a move to start walking, so I started it off. People followed pretty quickly after that. As we walked, it got darker outside as the sunset was finishing. All of the candles in the center ended up getting lit (I snitched about 60 of the Christmas Eve candlelight service candles and took the paper wax-catcher disks off of them.) and the glow from the center was really pretty.

I wish I had had my camera with me when I sat down after I walked. There were about 7 people total left still in the labyrinth. Two of the men from the council were the last two in the center, one on either side of the candles. They were both intently staring at the glow and then behind them were 5 people walking in a pretty even line down the path. It was just a beautiful picture!

We ended the service with a prayer and a blessing and then, spontaneously, M started to lead us in the Taize chant again. It was perfect!

After the service, everyone I talked to was so excited by the experience. I was really worried that it might not be a good worship for this congregation, but they just continue to surprise me. Big tough, blue-collar kind of guys, who I thought would just sit back and not really participate, were telling me after the service how awesome it was! One of the upper-elementary-school aged girls was talking about how she ended up crying when get got to the middle. Most of the time she is pretty flippant and dismissive, but this exercise really touched her deeply. Several people, completely independent from one another, told me they would love to make a labyrinth in the prayer garden behind the church. I really hope they pursue that; it would be an amazing prayer tool for them.

These are the parts of ministry that I need to remember when I am slogging through trying to write a sermon or plan a confirmation lesson. Too bad I can’t bottle the atmosphere and feelings from nights like this to take a sip from once in a while when I’m really wondering what in the world God is trying to get me to do.

Now I need to start working on next week’s Lenten service. I’m fighting the feeling that I need to top the week before each week. It will get unmanageable very quickly if I give in to that feeling. I’m trying to keep it simple.

But first I suppose I should probably get everything done for this Sunday.

Advertisement