All Church Worship

We just gathered our three morning services together into one worship celebration for the reopening of our renovated sanctuary. This includes asking folks who like to go to church at 8:30 to wait until 10:30. For contemporary folks and traditional folks to join together, oh my!
When I arrived at Spring Valley "combined" worship didn't have the best reputation with a lot of folks. In what I find to be the unfortunately typically experience with combined worship everyone compromises and no one is fulfilled. My goal has been to find 1) appropriate reasons to bring the whole church together and when not to. 2) how to combine worship where everyone feels uplifted and renewed. I think we succeeded this week in 1, and made progress in 2 but could still do better. We succeeded in goal 1 because the whole church was invested in the sanctuary renovation; because the Bishop was preaching and because everyone changed a little. The order was unique, there were songs from both and neither musical styles we're use to, the time was unique to everyone. So many people were involved in the endeavor that it really felt like our church service -no matter who you are. Woohoo!
Just as type the last line, I remember my 2nd goal. Was our all church worship really fully uplifting to everyone? Did traditional folks tolerate the praise songs or were they uplifted by them? Did contemporary folks really embrace the traditional closing hymn or where they just ready to sing it and get on to lunch? Did the anthem from neither the stylings of our choir nor our band really bring us together? (God definitely moved through it, but could it have been better?) I wonder if we should take more teaching moments in a service like this (or in all services). How many times do we assume everyone in the room knows what is going on and what is expected of them. Or if they don't they'll figure it out once they've come to worship several times, cause it is always the same. What happens if we assume there is someone completely new to worship in the room every time we gather? Is there a way to truly have occasional blended worship experiences that are uplifting to everyone and glorifying to God?
We are testing out another manner of All Church Worship during the holidays this year. We're going to have one All Church Service on Christmas morning (Christmas is a Sunday this year) in our contemporary worship venue and style. Then, the next Sunday, on New Year's Day we'll have All Church worship in the traditional style in our Sanctuary. I hope that we come out of those two weeks feeling like we achieved holistic worship experiences that honored both styles, celebrated major holydays and brought us to worship worship all together. How is your church approaching the Christmas and New Year's Day are on Sunday challenge?

Mother's Day

History of Mother's Day: Anna Jarvis Anna Jarvis is recognised as the Founder of Mothers Day in US. Though Anna Jarvis never married and never had kids, she is also known as the Mother of Mothers Day, an apt title for the lady who worked hard to bestow honor on all mothers. Anna Jarvis got the inspiration of celebrating Mothers Day from her own mother Mrs Anna Marie Reeves Jarvis in her childhood. An activist and social worker, Mrs Jarvis used to express her desire that someday someone must honor all mothers, living and dead, and pay tribute to the contributions made by them. A loving daughter, Anna never forgot her mothers word and when her mother died in 1905, she resolved to fulfill her mothers desire of having a mothers day. Growing negligent attitude of adult Americans towards their mothers and a desire to honor her mothers soared her ambitions. To begin with Anna, send Carnations in the church service in Grafton, West Virginia to honor her mother. Carnations were her mothers favorite flower and Anna felt that they symbolised a mothers pure love. Later Anna along with her supporters wrote letters to people in positions of power lobbying for the official declaration of Mothers Day holiday. The hard work paid off. By 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state in the Union and on May 8, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. History of Mother's Day: Present Day Celebrations Today Mothers Day is celebrated in several countries including US, UK, India, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan and Belgium. People take the day as an opportunity to pay tribute to their mothers and thank them for all their love and support. The day has become hugely popular and in several countries phone lines witness maximum traffic. There is also a tradition of gifting flowers, cards and others gift to mothers on the Mothers Day. The festival has become commercialised to a great extent. Florists, card manufacturers and gift sellers see huge business potential in the day and make good money through a rigorous advertising campaign. It is unfortunate to note that Ms Anna Jarvis, who devoted her life for the declaration of Mothers Day holiday was deeply hurt to note the huge commercialisation of the day. Another version of the story: Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia began the campaign that brought about the official observance of Mother's Day in the United states. Her mother died, and Anna wanted all mothers to be remembered. She asked that white carnations be the official mother's day symbol. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother's Day a national holiday. Just nine years later, Anna filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the over- commercialization of Mother's Day. She lost her fight. Now, cards, letters, candy and dinners out mark Mother's Day for most families. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.