Sessions

One thing, when we go back to the fourth century, it doesn't matter what communion or denomination you represent, because there was only one anyway. Having said that, however, it is very interesting, in the Roman Catholic tradition we have had a very precise way to do liturgy and sacraments. This wasn't always so. Our immediate history tends to dictate the whole history and that is not so. What I am presenting today I am extrapolating from oodles of documents that tend to give us these impressions.

These are things that I've done with church councils, individuals, and congregations that have wanted to assist their pastors in their preaching ministry. These are things I've picked up along the way.

This subject is a study in process that is being examined by multiple denominations simultaneously. By "profession of faith" we mean the public event by which someone says to the congregation something about their spiritual journey, where they are and where they are traveling. In your timeline there are two certainties: if you are a Reformed Christian of the persuasion that we are, somewhere on the timeline will also be infant baptism, and our assumption is (though frequently not carried out as well as it should be) there is an education and growth and nurturing process that goes lifelong, though it begins after baptism. Somewhere there must be admission to the Lord's Table for fulfillment of one of the two sacraments. The question is, where does that happen?

As I look at Unity Christian high school that I teach in, I really feel that our teens are into worship. I have worked at Unity to get our students involved in worship. Chapel at Unity Christian takes place four mornings a week. It lasts for about 15 minutes. We consider it to be our family devotions. It's a time when we gather as a group together basically every day. In a school setting, it is a set group of people, we are not attempting to bring the neighborhood in. Worship is a natural part of the school day. But it wasn't always this successful.

Many of us here have ministries that touch on suffering. We hope to learn from one another in this workshop. I expect for us to engage one another in looking at some of the suffering situations there are, both on the personal level, but also at the community and national level. We will be looking at the relationship between that and worship, and how we can be inspired to be God's instruments in such situations of suffering.