Sometimes Sabbath involves elements so familiar that one seems quite at home no matter where one is. This Sunday begins as such a day. Because rolling downstairs for coffee before going to church (which begins at a profoundly civilized hour of 10.30a) I am greeted with the familiar sound of MNF…Monday Night Football (the family I am with features a former College football player.) MNF is on a Sunday morning tape delay here. Excellent! Culture shock, smulture shock! Coffee and croissants, God and grid-iron; this is the day the Lord has made and I am rejoicing and feeling pretty glad in it!
Growing up in the Episcopal Church prepped me well for worship today…except it didn’t. This was not your grandfather’s Church of England. The local church featured all contemporary songs save one hymn and one song included people dancing with streamers in the aisle; the pastor used a movie clip and he actually wasn’t a "pastor" since he was not ordained, but he is a pastor at their church….huh? King Henry VIII must be rolling over in his grave. He must be wondering what happened to his reforms. And then there was the invitation to anyone at the end of the service to speak a word from God to the gathered faithful and a handful did and one even did it after the pastor had wrapped the service and given the benediction and then she walked up to the pulpit and gave her admonition. Messy, rich, fun, cool, unorthodox…beautiful; filled with every generation and many young families.
In the UK, it is the younger gen (20s – 30s) that is the growing edge of the Church (along with the first generation immigrant population.) As the service winds down, the sun breaks through and this 150 year old building which is rimmed with celestial windows for just such a moment and it is fills with warming and bright natural sunshine. It seemed a fitting metaphor that a Church that too often I reference as dark and cold is in fact alive and coming into renewed life (again.) God is a God of renewal, reinvention and regeneration and here at Holy Trinity Church of High Hazelmere, all three are felt on this sun-day morning.