Whew.....I've got to take a break from the Psalms.........and write a little bit about my experience in worship yesterday.

Some friends and I attended the "He Brews Jo" worship at St. Joseph United Methodist Church in Fort Wayne yesterday morning. I have been wanting to attend this worship service for a long time and decided to spend part of my last day of vacation worshipping with some fellow United Methodists in Fort Wayne. The worship service is located in a large room of the church that has tables and chairs set up for folks to sit at during worship allowing for space to write notes and/or observations about worship and the sermon and also a chance to chat with friends and family across the table before/during and after worship. I'm intrigued by this style of worship for many reasons. You know, Seminary Church has an incredible venue for this style of worship in our downstairs fellowship hall area. The seating downstairs, the VIEW of the park, and the close proximity to the kitchen all add up to space that would serve this type of worship service very well. A "He Brews Jo" type of worship service could very possibly be a pleasing worship opportunity in addition to our wonderful spirited traditional worship service in our incredibly beautiful sanctuary. As far as I know, no one else in Roanoke is doing worship this way. Add a little jazzy and laid back worship music and we could be pretty "cutting edge" and emergent in our worship style.

The service at St. Joe was well done. Rev. Russ Abel is an excellent preacher and used lots of visuals to help us understand his sermon. He also asked the congregation to participate by asking us lots of questions and then asking us to text him words that rhymed with "confined" so that he could end his sermon taking ideas from our input. Brave thing to do, Russ! The music was very contemporary in nature and everyone had a coffee cup in their hands or on the table next to them. My friends and I spent some time talking during worship.......um, we might have bordered on a little rude at times, but no one glared at us or called us out! I guess when you put people around a table, you have to expect a little conversation to happen. And quite frankly, that seems to be one of the points of a worship service like this; allowing the congregation to participate and to question and to think and engage in the worship experience! I liked it and many times wanted to jump and say, "Hey Russ, I've got something really important to say about "that"! Well, I guess you can take a preacher out of her church, but you can't take away her need to preach! Watch out this Sunday - I've been out of the pulpit for three weeks!

Anyone interested in having discussion about this with me? I'm open to hear what you have to say.

If I don't see you sooner, I'll see you on Sunday. In the meantime, have a great week with Jesus!

Peace, Kathy

Psalm 96:1-3 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory amoung the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.