Back to school today. My first post of 2006 is on the service Hannah and I planned and led on Sunday. We borrowed some ideas from Shrewsbury Youth Office on a service they ran on the 12 days of christmas song. It's definitely something to consider running next year. We set up 12 different stations, one for each of the days of christmas:
partridge in pear tree - Jesus on the cross
two turtle doves - old and new testament
three french hen - faith, hope and love (1 Cor 13:13)
four calling birds - the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
five gold rings - the torah
six geese a-laying - six days of creation (Gen 1)
seven swans a-swimming - seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-3)
eight maids a-milking - beatitudes (Matt 5)
nine ladies dancing - fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5)
ten lords a-leaping - ten commandents (although I changed this to the 10 distinctives)
eleven pipers-piping - eleven faithful apostles
twelve drummers drumming - twelves points of belief expressed in Apostles' Creed
We completely changed the church space. As the congregation arrived they look very uncomfortable, and a few people left. By the end I think the majority of people really valued the time and felt God really spoke to them through one or several of the stations. This is the first time I've done something so alternative in a morning service and it was, if anything, an interesting experiement to see how the church coped. There would be a few things I'd do differently again, but on the whole I think it was creative and accessible to all ages, which is the aim of our whole church services.
My 10 Distinctives were
1. God-worshippers only
2. Idol-free
3. Use God's name for praise alone
4. Keep the sabbath for God and resting
5. Think highly of those who look(ed) after us
6. Celebrate the gift of life
7. Faithful to those we love and who love us
8. Givers not takers
9. Truth-tellers
10. Happy with what we have
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