A New Thing

The Sunday of Firsts is now history. We said our farewells to Grace Family living so that we could begin our hellos to Oasis Family life, and now we've had church services at Oasis for two Sundays. It has been the beginning of a new - and lovely - thing.
Here are some of my impressions so far:

1. Novelty.
I experienced a mixture of emotions while we drove to Oasis that first Sunday morning, but the most prominent one was excitement. What is it about a new thing that beckons? Likely not the unknowns, the changes, and the twinges of fear at the potential of failure; it must be the freshness, the hope, the possibilities for success in the venture.

Most everyone came to church early. We had been advised to allow time for exploring the new-to-us building, so that was part of it. And we are starting our worship service at 10:00am instead of 9:45am like we did at Grace, so people may have been at church earlier than normal on account of being that deep in their habit groove. But there we were, sitting in the spacious sanctuary on the lovely padded chairs a good ten minutes before the opening, observant and eager - I think, because of the newness appeal.

2. Time for silent reflection.
When it comes to order of church service on a Sunday morning, we at Oasis have deviated somewhat from the familiar pattern of three songs, a Sunday School devotional, Sunday School itself, more songs and the offering, the message devotional, the message proper, a benediction and closing songs that I have been used to all my life. The beginning segment of the service is a worship time which includes songs, scripture and inspirational thoughts, all directed by the same leader. I find this to be very meaningful in focusing on God, and responding to Him in worship. Following this worship time is a period of silence, during which the offering is received. (Actually, this is an extension of the worship time, since giving can be a response of worship, as well.) The silence is welcome as a space in which to ponder the truths we have just heard and sung.

The first morning the theme of this worship time was Our Need of God - so fitting for us in our new church beginning.The very first hymn we sang together at Oasis Mennonite Church was "Hail, Holy Light", a song about we saints on earth joining the heavenly hosts in adoring our Creator and Savior. It's one of my favorite songs, and I loved that we ended that first Sunday with another favorite, by the same tune. The last hymn we sang that evening in the song service was "The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended". An intriguing thought therein is that the Lord's Church never sleeps, because as dawn leads the day around the world, there are constantly His people waking to pray and praise.

3. Opportunity for speaking.
In the new order of service, there is also time set aside specifically for any of us in the congregation to speak, as we care to. There's the personal sharing and prayer time following Sunday School, and then the sermon reflection time following the message. So far, these have been times of both men and ladies, adults and teens alike, sharing testimonies, prayer requests or something we learned throughout the week. I can tell that this will be one of my favorite times of an Oasis Sunday morning.

4. Children. 
Oasis is a young church. The average age of its attendees is 23. Ken is the oldest man; I am the fourth oldest woman in our group. (What a strange feeling!) This means that there are a lot of children among us; hence, a lot of energy and noise. I sense that these children are wanted and needed at Oasis, though. I hope they will grow up believing that they not only have a place in church, but that they are continually an integral part of the church. There have been thoughtful dialogues about creating space and safety for them while providing guidelines for respect of people and property (especially necessary since our two locations for having church gatherings are rented buildings).

We've started some traditions involving the children: their very own church bulletins, designed just for them, and a story time for the little people at the front of the sanctuary right after church dismissal while the big people are visiting.

                                                                        (Photo Credit: Jasmine Martin)

5. Flexibility. 
Starting something new goes so much better if the starters are willing to adapt quickly. I have seen this played out in numerous ways as Oasis gets on its feet, from a youth fellow calmly cleaning up water suddenly spilled by the special needs child he was entertaining, to a member graciously conceding an opinion in a group discussion, to people being willing to pack up their potluck gear and move from the morning church building to the afternoon/evening church building without complaining.

6. Membership. 
How do you "join church" when you're a part of one congregation that multiplies into two and you decide to go with the new branch? Are you automatically a member of the new one? Should there be some sort of documentation of who are the founding members? Our leaders decided on a Membership Service, and they planned a very meaningful program, implementing ideas that various people offered.

After we sang some opening songs about the church and its brotherhood (I sometimes add "sisterhood" in my head), our pastor gave a short meditation, opening with an African proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" as he compared the church to riding on a bus vs riding on a motorcycle. He also likened the church to a body, an orchestra, and a family. When he listed a number of things we do together as a family and included "We fight with each other", Ken and I looked at each other and grinned, interpreting "fight along with each other".

Then we all stood and read a Statement of Commitment together audibly. As I read the part about me being "a rebel, a sinner, lost and blind, but God who is rich in mercy and extravagant love sent Jesus to rescue all those who turn and reach out to Him in faith and obedience" I got all choked up and I couldn't read for a bit at the immense wonder of it all.

My voice found strength again when we got to the part about Jesus building His church and me desiring to be a part of His local body at Oasis Mennonite Church. I could join in with solid commitment to love and cherish each member and to serve the church as I'm able.

Then, as a hands-on (feet-on?) way to symbolize the one-anothering we were committing to, we observed the ordinance of feet-washing. I can feel rather awkward and vulnerable (not to mention ticklish-footed) entering into this ordinance, and that day was not really an exception in that regard, but it was so meaningful, too. I have been thinking a lot lately about wanting to be able to see Jesus - to really know who He is - and it seemed that I got a glimpse of Him that day. One of His daughters knelt in front of me and took my plain, ordinary feet in her hands and splashed warm water over them and carefully dried them with a towel. Then she allowed me to do the same to her, and then we embraced each other and she whispered that she was so happy that we belong in the same church family and I could tell she really meant it. Yes, in my brothers and sisters around me that day, I saw His Body. And it was precious.

The last thing in the membership service was for the founding members of Oasis to sign a poster to document this occasion. While we filed up to the front to write our names on the beautiful poster designed by one of the youth girls, we listened to a recording of a song done by Oasis Chorale. "I Am the Lord", written by Lyle Stutzman, is taken from Isaiah 43 and I can't think of a more fitting song for us beginning Oasis Mennonite Church. "I am the Lord, your Holy One...your King...Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." (verses 15 and 19) Sounds like the beginning of an Oasis to me!

What new thing has God begun in your life lately?

This Post's Quotable:

When the topic at the dinner table turned to childhood memories of chewing gum, our guest Steve tried to describe how drastic the gum dearth was for his wife and her siblings when she was growing up. "They were so gum-depraved," he declared, "that they'd sometimes wad up a little piece of paper into a ball, and chew that."

This Post's Childhood Memory:

I used to be puzzled and intrigued by my mom's habit of keeping her eyes open when she was praying. At least, to me it seemed a habit. (Every time I checked, it appeared to be so.) When I'd ask her about it, she'd just turn it around and ask how I would know. So then I would either have to admit that I'd had my eyes open during prayer too, or just stop talking about it.
In more recent years, I've startled myself by realizing that I, too, could easily be caught with my eyes open during prayer. I believe it comes from seasons of being on high alert, checking out the source of smell emitting from the infant on my lap, making sure my preschoolers aren't pulling faces at each other, and did I remember to put the gravy on the table? or on low alert, eyes half open in meditation or quite possibly the weariness zone between sleep and wakefulness, and oh, there's a drip of something down the front of my dress - must be tomato sauce from the lasagna...
Yeah, my mother could've easily answered my eyes-open-during-prayer question with, "Oh, it's something you'll understand when you're a mom."