16 March, 2005 10:21 PM
At LivingRoom tonight we had a wonderful night of BYO Worship.
For newer readers of this blog who haven't come across the concept before - you might like to check out two previous descriptions of BYO Worship nights here and here.
In short, BYO worship is where each person is invited to bring a short experience, reflection, story, activity, reading, piece of music, song, art work etc for the group to do - usually on a certain theme. We generally fast on these nights - so instead of each person bringing something to the meal to share they bring something to the worship time to share.
Tonight's theme was 'Home' and I was really touched by the amazing array of experiences that were brought together in a beautiful way. Some of the elements of our night tonight included:
- Photos of one person's homes over the years
- A song 'come into my kitchen'
- Quotes on the topic of 'home'
- A couple of treasured heirlooms from a grandparent (an old battered cookbook and a fork and spoon) that reminded one person of home
- A reflection on John 15 - 'Abide in me and I will Abide in you' (or in the Message translation - 'Make your home in me and I will make my home in you'. Followed by discussion on the differences between a house and a home.
- An exercise on homelessness getting us to think of those who perhaps are without home.
- A song - 'I still call Australia Home' - with a reflection on one person's journey of moving to Australia
- Verses on God dwelling in/with us
- Verses on Us dwelling in/with God
- One person's Teddy Bear which had symbolized home for that person for many years
- One person's visitor book which each person that visits their home signs which has come to mean a lot to them
- A reflection on one family moving out of home temporarily to live with another family whilst their home is being renovated
- Someone singing us a song written about community
I have by no means done justice to the wonderful array of experiences that we had tonight. One of the things I love about our BYO Worship nights is the way in which the Holy Spirit takes a diverse group of experiences and activities and actually speaks quite powerfully to those there on a topic. It was fascinating to see the common threads running through the night as people shared - it was also really powerful to have each person share so openly of themselves - I think we all came away from the night having felt touched not only by God but also somewhat touched by one another and knowing each other a little better.
Comments
Page:
yes as one of the participants of this BYO worship at LovingRoom i must say that it was a great way to worship God through sharing with one another.
Justin, what you guys do sound very interesting too.
Kitty » 17 March, 2005 3:38 PM
This is so beautiful. I think it's exactly what we need to do to remake worship into something worthwhile that honors the contributions of everyone.
One thing we've been doing at our bible studies is working on some sort of art project during the discussion. So far, we've done:
-Constrution paper cutouts symbolizing John the Baptist and Jesus, during a discussion of the parallels between their lives in Luke's gospel
-Play-Dough sculptures symbolizing the act of becoming a neighbor to someone (during a study/discussion on the parable of the Good Samaritan).
Thanks for sharing. You've inspired me to do more sharing of what we do in our gatherings.
Justin » 17 March, 2005 1:28 PM