November 23, 2025
The Feast of the Reign of Christ
The past month has been very powerful for me. In the aftermath of spending the day with Seekers on Sunday, September 14 I flew into Albuquerque on October 24 to experience a weekend with eleven hundred people who, like us are Re-Imaging Christianity. We were told 2,000 people joined us on-line from around the world. I returned and read the Weave Team’s story? They used the term evolution. This caused me to listen with the heart of a visionary.
Will you pray with me:
Holy One, please ignite our spirits, my spirit for an outpouring of love into this day and into this worship service. May I have the confidence to believe your Spirit, the Holy Spirit is here. Holy One, even if words can’t express your presence may our hearts and minds breathe in your love. Please allow the billows of our lungs to expand the seeds of faith, compassion, patience and openness that comes with this worship time together.
It was exciting to find that people everywhere are eager to find ways to connect in the ways they serve, relate to each other and maybe most importantly in the ways they nurture their relationship with the Holy. As we went through the weekend I kept thinking about worship.
Why would I sit through six sessions of talks never once wanting to miss anything. Each session was like a gateway that drew me in. With each conversation, each connection or contemplative moments I felt like I was going through another door to reach the Holy. Was I participating in worship all weekend? How was it that I could sit with eleven hundred people, session after session and feel at home, feel like I belonged and found seeds of hope sprouting up in my spirit?
As a result I have pages of notes which I tried to fit into a sermon but the Weave Team encouraged me to speak from my heart. Since I tend to ramble I have also added that I am allowed to only make one suggestion.
Let’s think of worship as a Gateway to Home or a Gateway to a Spiritual Life.
Why Gateway to Home? It is a match for this generation. The promise of eternal salvation is not bringing people in. People are looking for a place of belonging, a place of healing and a place to find rest and acceptance now.
I’ll give an example of how I am experiencing the change with my singing. For the longest time I’ve had this ear worm song in my head, “Where the gates swing outward Never.” While my spirit floated with the melody the words left me cold. I finally sat in contemplation with the words and to my surprise I was able to actually create new lyrics which stir my spirits on many days. I want to share with you. Please be kind.
Where the Gates Swing Outward Never–original
Just a few more days to be filled with praise
And to tell the old, old story.
Then when twilight falls, and my Savior calls,
I shall go to Him in glory.
I’ll exchange my cross for a starry crown.
Where the gates swing outward never.
At His feet I’ll lay ev’ry burden down,
And with Jesus reign forever.
Where the Gates Swing Outward Never–modern version
Everyday I wake and sing the praise
That God has come already
When the daylight ends
And my heart needs rest
We’ll review the day together
All the years ahead
With their ups and downs
Will bring me heart felt treasures.
I go back to the Re-imagining Conference. The room was filled with about 200 tables with six people at a table. The speakers would talk, give a lead. By the third session I realized it was like the speaker opened the gate from my heart to the Holy. Then they would ask the people at each table to respond among themselves. It was like emotional or spiritual doors would begin to open. Then four to six leaders would circle up on stage and respond among themselves as we observed. Even being present in the role of witness with friends I never met more doors in my heart became open. I left each session with a feeling of belonging, empowerment and an eagerness to listen longer, contemplate deeper and celebrate the freedom I have to serve and belong to a community of like minded people. While the literal connections may not occur during worship the sense of belonging can begin to take hold.
If I get through the worship gate there is hope, but often I leave as quickly as I enter. Fear faulty thinking and painful experiences keep me away. Then I feel a hand putting my hand on the handle and I return through a safer door.
What keeps me coming back? What keeps you coming back?
I have always had a passion for worship though it often stays stifled. However the worship elements provided by Celebration Circle, the evolution of Seekers’ conversations, the Re-imaging Christianity weekend and countless AA meetings have ignited my spirit around the possibilities for worship.
When I truly pause, listen and absorb what feeds my spirit in worship it is the stories. The vulnerable, honest, sometimes raw and searching humble shared lives pull me in like a magnet I can’t resist. This is why I love the open pulpit.
And I propose we expand the open the pulpit. In other words, lets leave space, approximately fifteen minutes after the message is shared for others who have a message. We can think of the open time as a Quaker strategy, silence until given a word. Or think of the number of energetic stimulating insights which have been triggered by our volunteer preacher for the day. Person after person has a response. Once this becomes the routine think of the messages that will be brought to worship. You may know we give money to over forty organizations. Every group who receives income from Seekers has a relationship with at least one person who is a Seeker. I would love to hear from each person when the time and message is relevant. Plus we now have four working groups which have already been formed. At the appropriate times they also can bring their updates to the worship experience. This is actually similar with the first century Christians.
It sounds scary almost irresponsible to expand the open stage for anyone to spontaneously share. But we have so many safeguards the strongest of which is love. I was recently at a meeting where the speaker spoke on the topic of isolation and loneliness. I counted the responses. Eleven of forty people spoke up and shared the disassociation they felt even in the middle of relatives, friends and coworkers. It was healing.
The love doesn’t end with a prayer. The gate stays open with fellowship and probably food. I actually looked up the description of how the first believers gathered after Jesus left the earth.
Acts 2:46 ”Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” I’m been trying to visualize which part of these daily activities would be considered worship? But anyhow, I noticed for the first time the emphasis was on what they did together everyday. It was the Holy who added to their number of those being saved. Possibly people were being saved from all kinds of problems and struggles.
There is still the need for theological, historical, educational and instructive lessons to be shared from the open pulpit. There is room for all who are called. Likewise the extended open microphone offers opportunities for all community members to be heard. There is the unknown outcome but any area of service carries with it risks and challenges. Still the outcomes are in the hands of the Holy One.
The Weave Team has suggested that we are at a threshold. I believe our worship service is the place to allow our threshold to unfold. As it has been defined by our Weave Team it is a time and place of liberation, discovery and awakening. It is a time we can all be together or create a place of reference if one is returning.
We are all thinking how we can contribute to the love, safety and acceptance that we all want to experience. People can come and feel like they are at home.
The stories will stir our motivation to reach out during the informal time when the service ends.
Conversations not conversions, shame can melt with compassion, hope for healing can be ignited, Salvation is not a bartering system but a place to be experienced here and now. And there is so much more in this community once people perceive mostly through our worship hour that they are seen and noticed.
Our setting is a place of home but mostly for the dominant culture. We lovingly invite others in but now is the time to shift our successes. As we allow room for the language of love to be expressed with fresh language the mystery of the Holy Spirit will determine our outcomes. May the cultural balance will shift. We can cultivate a shift in attitude that leaves room for everyone to participate. We will create experiences where people feel there is no outside. When people wave we wave back. When people speak up we respond. I belong. We all belong. Linger, come inside.
For me, quiet music listening time is a powerful way to tune in with my inner connection to God. If the worship time begins with ten minutes of quiet music to encourage a prayerful presence there will still be plenty of time for the extended microphone.
To paraphrase one believer, “remember prayer and worship is not an escape, but a fortification. It is preparation. To be faithful is to walk toward our own hill where suffering and salvation meet. It’s to walk the bridge of life. So I pray. I persevere. I ask again and I wear the cross, my cross not as an ornament, but as a compass-pointing me toward the margins, the bones, the breath of the Holy. Let our worship become a bridge.