This is not real church

I suspect I might be the ‘elderly relative’ referred to in the article by Tony Payne on ‘This is not real church’. But even if I’m not, I want to comment on the change of ‘doing church’ over the years and the cut-down New Testament church of today. Tony wrote that “many of the elements that a previous generation would have closely associated with ‘real church’ had been stripped away or changed beyond recognition in our congregational gatherings”. How true! I well remember the shock-horror I felt when ‘Thee’, ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’ were replaced in our church language by ‘you’ and ‘your’. It felt so irreverent to speak to God in this way—almost as if we were becoming too familiar. But of course, taken slowly and constantly, this change slipped into our way of thinking. Other changes, such as more informal clothing (no hats and gloves), no longer kneeling to pray unless you really want to or still can, and the advent of a crying room for young children have been easily absorbed. Liturgical changes are harder to introduce. Church leaders in the Anglican church have gradually cut down and modernized the liturgy, and yet in the Diocese in which I live, there is still a loving acknowledgement of the needs of different age groups within the parish family. To embrace those different ages, three services are held each Sunday and one on Wednesday morning to cater for these needs. I choose to attend the 9:30 am service on Sunday where I share an encouraging, refreshing and inspirational time with fellow Christians in the building we call ‘our church’. We sing together, praising God and acknowledging his Lordship and majesty accompanied by the Clavinova, a guitar and sometimes the flute and three singers. Old Testament and New Testament readings are given by members of the congregation, and prayers are offered also by parish family members. The gospel reading is expounded in such a way that I gain new food for thought and application in my life. The children present gather around the chancel steps before the sermon, and are told a story taken from the gospel theme. This is done in a light-hearted, yet appropriate way. They then move to another large room for further instruction and craft, before rejoining us later to share in the taking of the bread and wine in remembrance of our Lord Jesus. All children are welcomed to the communion meal. The older ones can partake of the meal even if they haven’t been confirmed. BIG CHANGE! We follow the songs on an overhead data board, and have a service sheet—no prayer books or hymn books. The changes are significant, but I am grateful for the liturgy that has been retained. It contains a sense of reaffirmation, forgiveness and security. This feels like real church to me. I am grateful for the changes, but I can’t imagine it being stripped down any further. Maybe the robing might go; our priest wears a long white cassock. Who knows! At the 5:00 pm Discovery Church, the young families gather to the beat of drums, guitars and amplifiers, and the barefooted singers lead them with very different songs heard in the other two services of the day! Just as in everyday life, new ideas and lifestyles infiltrate the way we ‘do home’, and, taken slowly and constantly, they become a familiar way of life. The main thing is to keep love in the picture, and to do that, we as parents know we have to be willing to take on board new ways. We don’t always like these new ways; in fact, sometimes it goes against all we hold dear. But parental love is unconditional, and that says it all. The family know the guidelines and they know our love. So it is with God: we know his guidelines and love.