Christian Resurgence Circle - The Experience

Acts 2:42-47 says: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."

This is my favorite passage in all of scripture. I think that it is so powerful for me because it seems to portray an image of the "Church" that I think has been lost in many venues over the centuries. Over the last 10 years, I have been blessed by experiencing what I would call Acts 2:42 type churches. These encounters have occurred in many different places throughout the U.S. and have had many different 'formats' or 'models', but they have in some way all rang true to the aforementioned scripture (not always 100% literally, but they hit the mark none-the-less).

My latest encounter with an expression of an Acts 2:42 church occurred on my vacation when I visited a Christian Resurgence Circle with my friend Nate. I asked a number of questions before I arrived...format, what to expect, etc. Nate said to think "house church" and so I did (I am sure that that means different things to different people, but at its core you can get an initial idea--we were going to be meeting in some one's home, it would be a small group of people, etc).

Having no difficulty in finding the home (I know that may surprise some of you who have been keeping up with my recent posts), my challenge in this adventure was actually being able to get in to the gated community (someone finally asked me where I was going and kindly let me in). When I arrived, introductions were made and we visited while we awaited the arrival of another person.

I must say that our host for the evening has a beautiful apartment home, but what impressed me most was the thought that seemed to have gone into the evening. There were lights on, but they were few and/or dimmed in the meeting area (don't think darkness, think very pleasant and calming ambiance), which was the living room of the apartment. I say this because what I see, hear, smell, etc., all have an effect on the worship experience (think about those 2 hour long discipleship classes that you have been to that had overly bright fluorescent lights and metal or wooden chairs that were very uncomfortable---or some similar experience---and how that affected your learning or engagement).

As our final person arrived, the liturgist for the evening (this is hugely important...the responsibilities of host, liturgist, ancient text discussion leader, and modern text discussion leader rotate every week) called us together and began what I will call the 'service' for lack of a better word.

Our 'official' time together began by lighting candles that were on the table in the center of everyone, us standing and singing (without music) the words, "Ubi caritas et amor; ubi caritas deus ibi est" (translation: "Wherever there is love, there God is"). This was followed with an extended period of silence and stillness that served to help in centering us for the evening(this would scare the beJesus out of many people...but what a treat this was!). At the end of our centering time, the liturgist rang a bowl shaped gong that was setting on the coffee table in front of us.

The liturgist then played a song for us to listen to and followed it up by asking a Spirit Go Around question which was: "The song offers a number of similar realizations - What was so _____ in the evening, by the morning ______. Which of them rang most true as a realization from your own life?" The individuals of the group were given the opportunity to respond (or not respond) and although it appeared that the responses were to go around in order to begin with, this quickly changed and different people sitting in the circle responded to different questions throughout the evening at different times.

As our opening discussion was brought to a close (this is perhaps the liturgists second most important job---keeping the group on track) we sang a song entitled "Finish Our Work".

The next component of our time together was to discuss and ancient text (that would be scripture passage). The group has been working its way through the Gospel of Mark and we continued that work on this particular evening. A passage was read (by a different person than the liturgist), expounded upon and offered up to discussion with very a poignant question by the discussion leader. This really allowed an authentic intersection of our lives with the scriptures.

The end of the ancient text discussion was filled with more singing as we sang the song "Harvest Time".

We were now about a third of the way through the evening and it was time for a shared meal and communion. As a guest, I was told not to bring anything, but all of the other members brought food to share. It was an awesome feast! And this ongoing act of hospitality unfolded as if it came right out of the pages of scripture. Just as everyone had sat down and began to eat, the liturgist explained that communion was done by serving one another...that we were to offer the elements of bread and wine (they had this really cool blood orange Italian soda for me---Thanks Nate for remembering my recovery!) as we understood them to the person next to them (I know that some of you are asking if it is really communion if the elements aren't consecrated and the order of worship in the UMH, BOW, or BCP aren't used, but that can be a discussion for another time). Communion occurred in the middle of a full meal, with everyone present (makes me wonder if this wasn't what Paul was referring to in some of his exhortations). It had a real first century feel (like I could actually understand that)...better put, it was much more community oriented (often during communion at other churches, it is easy to feel like you have communed with God, but the connection or communion with one another seems lacking).

After enjoying our meal and communing together we moved into the final third of the evening. It was now time to discuss a modern text. The group had been working slowly (read that as intentionally, not lazily)through a book by John Caputo entitled "What Would Jesus Deconstruct?" I was impressed and intrigued by the little portion of the book that we discussed and have added it to my must get for my own reading and study. After the discussion leader for this portion did some reading and expounding, she too left us with a couple of questions to discuss.

As the liturgist brought the evening to a close, we participated in a Prayer of intentions, where we prayerfully answered the question: "What is the one thing you will do in the next week, that will 'Add some teeth' to your spiritual journey?"

Once everyone had the opportunity to respond we closed the evening by singing a Prayer of St. Theresa which focused on us being the body of Christ in the world. What an incredible way to send us forth focused on Christ and Christian service!

Having only visited once, there may be some details that are slightly off, but this is what is emblazoned in my memory of the evening. I wanted to share the experience before I offered additional insights or thoughts...So, stay tuned, as I will have more to say about CRC in the next post!