In worship, we both Remember God’s Story, and bring our own stories before God. The strange churchy word for this is liturgy – which means, ‘the work of the people.’ This is a ministry that all of us can share. We invite you to take a turn in leading one of these worship elements.
Remembering God’s Story takes place early in worship, after announcements and our gathering song. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It can be done in your own words, as a call-and-response that asks the congregation to contribute to telling the story. The big movements of the story to date are Creation, Separation, Promise, and God-With-Us. Working together, it takes about 3 minutes to tell. As the year goes on, we’ll be adding Death-to-Life, and The Church. This way of breaking down the Christian story comes to us from a book called Shaped by The Story, by Michael Novelli. Pastor Kerri is willing to go over this with you in advance if you’d find it helpful. Click here to sign up for leading this part of worship.
Testimony is a time when we bring our own stories before God. Every one of us has a God-story somewhere in our lives. This is probably the most affirming audience you will ever have. The guidelines are simple:
1) It has to be your own personal story or experience, not a story about something about happened to someone else. Think about a time when God felt especially close, or especially far away. Consider things that have happened in your life that helped you realize something about God. Which leads us to guideline #2…
2) God must be a character in your story.
3) Write your God-story down and share it with Pastor Kerri at least a week before your turn to offer testimony. No fancy words required. If God is not explicitly a character in your story, we will work together to refine it until we find where God is.
Don’t think you have a God-story, or yours doesn’t measure up? Perhaps this is a word of hope for you: Your story is not competing in the Supernatural Activity Olympics nor for Tragedy-of-the-Week. You don’t have to believe or say the right things about God according to any creed or authority. You are not going to get kicked out of the church for saying the wrong thing. You don’t have to write the Great American Novel …you’re just sharing a glimpse of sacred truth you have come to see through your own experience.
4) It should take no more than 3-5 minutes to tell. If it’s longer, you may not have found the core of your story yet (or maybe it’s a sermon in the works). We can take time to refine it.
Click here to sign up to offer your own Testimony.
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