I’ve been carrying around a phrase recently that describes our worship: contemplative-charismatic. We expect the Holy Spirit to be at work when we gather — making us more in the image of Jesus, giving us the grace and healing we need. We listen both in our most jubilant moments and in our quieter moments. This phrase naturally extends to this Sunday’s service.
We’ve invited our Bishop Terrell Glenn to be with us Sunday. He will preach as well as pray over Confirmation and our new members. Confirmation is praying in the New Testament pattern of “laying on of hands,” confirming an adult profession of faith. In the Gospels, Jesus heals (and heals and heals and blesses) through the laying on of hands. In Acts, folks are filled with the Holy Spirit through such prayer. Today, we anticipate the same filling of the Spirit and healing — again, whether exuberant or contemplative.
(In this way, it’s a kind of ordination:
READ A REFLECTION BEFORE LAST YEAR’S VISIT — CONFIRMATION AS ORDINATION)
Speaking of contemplative-charismatic worship: see below for some images from Holy Week. The Spirit was at work in our more exuberant moments, and perhaps more powerfully in our quiet reflective moments.
God’s peace on your home,
Michael+