I Accept Jesus as My Personal Friend

In the DOC church all that is asked of an individual for membership is a rather simple affirmation of faith (we say this is not a creed, because its an affirmation of what we believe. credo in latin means I believe...hmmm...)

At my home church, and at others I have visited, the affirmation is "Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God and do you accept him as Lord and Savior?" Upon an affirmative response, the individual is accepted into the community and if they have not been baptized they are now eligible.

Easter Sunday I was at a church where I heard a variation on this affirmation: "Do you believe that Jesus is the son of the living God and do you take him to be your personal friend, guide, companion and savior? And do you accept his Gospel of unconditional love?"

Quite different. "Personal friend, guide and companion" can in no way equate to Lord. It is not even in the same ballpark. Lord is someone who has power over us; someone whom we submit to; someone so much greater than ourselves; God.

At this particular church this affirmation was given to children preparing for baptism, so I thought it was intentionally watered down for their benefit. However the same affirmation was asked of the adults being baptized.

How is Jesus Lord in the life of those who make this affirmation? Is the understanding of Jesus' lordship lost? Is he no loner Lord?

A Welcoming Eucharist

We were unable to attend our regular church for Good Friday because my wife had to work during their services. I found another local church with an evening Good Friday mass which we went to. It was absolutely beautiful. We decided to continue the Easter Triduum at this new church. So we went to the Vigil and Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday. The sanctuary was already packed so we heading to the "overflow mass" in the social hall. This was monsignor's first mass since he had had surgery. He preached on the Gospel text, John 20, when Mary and the disciples discover the empty tomb.

He said that Peter is a symbol of authority in this Gospel and The Beloved Disciple is a symbol of love. He recognizes that The Beloved Disciple gets to the tomb before Peter. The main idea of his homily was "love always trumps authority."

Later, during the Eucharistic prayers, the priest broke from the liturgy and said a word about the church's Eucharistic practice. I cannot give a perfect quote here, but I will try to remember. He said "I invite everyone here to come forward. If Eucharist is not part of your tradition I encourage you to come forward for a blessing so that we can welcome, accept and bless you." And then he quoted Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female." We are all one in Christ.

There is more he said, and he said it quite beautifully. Eucharist is part of my tradition (even as a Protestant), and I understood it has an invitation. It was the first time at a Catholic church that I felt welcome and invited to commune. I heard a radical message of Christ's love and welcoming.

Update: DOC Easter Vigil

While working on something else I found a liturgy for Easter Vigil in Chalice Worship (A worship manual for the Christian Church Disciples of Christ).

It follows very closely with what I found at the Catholic liturgy this past weekend. There is the liturgy of light, word, baptism, and Eucharist.

I will be examining it, and pray for me - perhaps even celebrating it in the next Easter season when I am serving a church.

How exciting.

Stations of the Cross at a Protestant Church

Tuesday of Holy Week the youth group at my internship church presented a modified version of the stations of the cross for the pastoral staff and their parents.

There were many positive reviews. It was rather meaningful for both the presenters (youth) and participants.

I am encouraged to see a Protestant church open to accepting practices that are so often considered to be for "Catholics only."

My First Easter Vigil

This past Eastern Triduum I had the opportunity to attend my first Easter Vigil. It was remarkably beautiful.

The evening began with the service of light, unfortunately I wasn't able to find a candle. The Christ candle processed down the center aisle and those closest to it lit their candles from it and passed it along to the fellow worshipers. By the time the Christ candle made it to the front of the worship space the entire sanctuary was full of light. It was a sign of Christ in and spread throughout the world.

Next came the liturgy of the word. It began with creation, then told the exodus story, the prophets and finally the story of Jesus' resurrection. It was a retelling and even a reliving of all salvation history. In particular I remember the Exodus reading. Someone from the church sung it and the congregation responded. It was like being part of a divine opera.

Fifteen people were baptized that night. There was one infant with her mother, two children and eleven others. As each person received the waters of baptism the entire congregation burst into song singing "Blessed be God!" I could feel the Body of Christ get larger with the reception of each new member. Following the baptisms were confirmations on those newly baptized and those not yet confirmed.

The evening concluded with a celebration of the Eucharist. With the retelling of our salvation history and the reception of new Christians, the community gathered for the climax of the evening in Eucharist.

It was a beautiful. The choir led worship wonderfully, but they did not sing to us; it was a community event. The telling of our history was done so well and vividly.

I wonder why Protestant Christians so readily adopted the Christmas Vigil (Christmas Eve service) but not the Easter Vigil. I feel like I have been missing something significant all these years.