twenty-three

Last night, something very special began. In this year of transition and change, we have begun to move forward into some very cool territory at the INN. Restoration at the end of the week, experiential worship, reflection aided by writing and reading. Sabbath began last night.

We have had a Friday night program at the INN for quite some time called JAM (Jesus at Midnight). This extended time of worship from 10pm to 12am on one Friday (or so) a month, was a time of musical worship and prayer. Students would gather, sing about 15-20 songs, pray together, and have a place to rest in God at the end of the week. As a student, I thoroughly enjoyed the time at JAM to reflect on the week, where God was teaching me, or just to sing until I was hoarse and praise God. This year though, we decided the time had come for JAM to pass on and something new to emerge and take it’s place within the programs at the INN. For all it’s value, JAM had lost it’s edge. It was doing alright, but it was time for a change.

Sabbath has been born out of the death of JAM. Sabbath is not JAM with a different name. It is a different service, with different purposes, different driving forces. And so while one piece of the INN died at the beginning of this year, another new and very necessary thing emerged.

The Sabbath service draws from the concept of the ancient day of rest within our Judeo-Christian tradition. The close of the day on Friday night brings a time of rest. We are called to lay down our work, lay aside the distractions of the week and spend time simply with each other and with God. Our goal with this new service is to facilitate that in a new way for students. Our focus is to provide space in which students can rest in God, reflect on where He is taking them during this part of their journey, and worship Him in more than just musical styles, but in whole-body ways.

I’d like to write a separate post about the specifics of the program last night, but I’ll try to explain the general ideas here to paint a picture of what a new service like this looks like. Not only do we think that musical worship is important to our community’s praise of God, it is vital. So, Sabbath does not do away with the music, but rather accents the music with other forms of worship. We plan to offer students a multi-sensory worship experience, with lights, sounds, and movement that steps beyond our traditional experience stuck in a pew for an hour and a half. While students continue to sing and worship along with our music teams, they are also invited to move about the room to different "stations" or "spaces" where they can reflect upon specific things. Last night’s Sabbath focused on this time of transition we are all in, the Fall, the concepts of Leaving Things Behind and Going Towards where God would guide us. So, space around the room asked students to reflect on where they’ve come from, who has influenced them, where God is leading their hearts, what their prayers for the future would be, etc. Coming from the idea that we are whole people who should use are whole selves to worship God, these spaces hope to facilitate prayer and worship in some different ways that the music of the service does not engage.

I’ve been very interested in what might be called "alternative worship" like this for a couple of years now. Churches and communities around the country and the world seem to be reaching an awareness that to simply sing along with a leader up front is all we can do to worship God. There are a number of resources that these ideas we have been working from grow out of. With my connections to the Presbymergent network, I have been in touch with others, like Adam Walker Cleaveland, who does a similar style of service at Princeton called .bE. And the ideas of Peter Rollin’s superb book How (Not) to Speak of God has been a strong influence, after reading the stories of different services his Ikon gathering in Ireland hold, services that push the boundaries of how we experience God, how we view God, how we shape our theology by our gathering style. There are some fascinating ideas here and elsewhere, all which have helped us look at this concept of a new type of worship experience for students through a lens of creativity and hope.

Like I said, I would like to share more specifics about last night in a separate post. I think we got some good pictures last night, so once I get my hands on them, I’ll make sure to include them as well. This is a very exciting time for the INN, as we move forward into a new year and engage some of the potential for seeing God in new ways be being willing to take a few risks and live "by faith", knowing that God is good and will watch over us as we journey together.  

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