Wesley Wednesday Worship

Wednesday January 11, 2009

I attended the SFA Methodist Student Center (Wesley) this night. Supper was at 6 PM. Before serving supper, we did a prayer for the meal called the Wesley Grace. The Wesley Grace is sung before eating meals at the Wesley. The Worship service started at 7 PM. First we sang “Trading My Sorrows”. Second we had Welcome & Announcements. Next, we had greet your neighbor where everyone welcomes each other. Next, it was asked if there was any first time visitors. Then a prayer was offered. A scripture focus was read from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Next we sang “Arise” and “Indescribable”. Next was Joys & Concerns in which everyone could lift up their concerns or what they were joyful to God about. Joys & Concerns ended with the saying of The Lord's Prayer. Next another song, which was “God Of Wonders.” While singing an offering basket was passed around. Next we sang “Breathe.” A clipboard was passed around to fill out with information about yourself including: Name, Address, Phone Number, Major, and other info. A prayer was ten offered for Tom Teekell. Tom gave a sermon titled “Birds of a Feather”. Tom read from 1 Corinthians 13. Before reading Tom said: "Listen for the word of God". After reading Tom said: "This is the word of the Lord". The audience then replied with "Thanks be to God". Tom's sermon went something like this: Love is one of the most commonly used words in and out of the church. It is greatly over used and has lost it's meaning. An example Tom gave was that if hey tells his wife that he loves Apple Jacks and then tells her that he loves her he has just compared her to cereal. Different things that people say they love can include Obama, The Office, and Chex Mix. In secular music, love is often associated with sex. In abusive relationships, love is usually associated with control and on valentine's day it is associated with romance. How we treat our significant other shows our definition of love. We do silly things to attract our boyfriend/girlfriend. Birds also do silly things to attract mates. The Cockatoo swings back and forth upside down swinging it's head. The magnificent Friget bird inflates it's neck. In the Great birds of paradise 20 males dance and display their feathers and freeze when female shows up. The female then picks the one she wants. There are three main birds Tom mentioned that people can act like in the world when it comes to love. The first is the Peacock. These people are convinced that love is purely physical. They draw attention to themselves and think love is something to be won. Peacocks make a loud screeching noise if people are ignoring them. The second bird people can act like is Ravens. They are birds of prey who move in for the kill. They believes in love at 1st sight. They move quickly into relationships and puts themselves before others. The third bird people can act like is Vultures. They see what the prospects are and take advantage of people who are fresh out of relationships. They look for people in need of emotional support. They are co-dependent and like to fix up other people. Tom said that we should be like doves. Doves are monogamous and keep the same partner for a long time. Doves in the Bible represent Purity and innocents. Tom quoted Matthew 10:16. Innocence should be one of the most attractive traits that people see in each other. True love exist in finding it in Christ first. We should use that as a measure of who we create relationships with. This ended Tom's sermon. Next we took communion by intention. This is where the bread is dipped into the juice. Everyone was welcome to take. The table is not Methodist or Protestant. Tom asked people helping with communion to come forward. While giving communion Tom said the following phrase while giving the bread:"The body of Christ broken for you". The person helping Tom said the following phrase while people dipped the bread into the juice: "The blood of Christ shed for you" Tom had said that people can kneel at the alter rail and write down prayer requests and pray after taking communion if they wished. Guitar music was playing while taking of communion. Tom offered an invitation to anyone to talk to him after the service or anytime about accepting Christ or any special prayer needs. Lastly the song “In The Secret” was sang. Tom then did something called passing the peace in which he said a blessing over us and gave each person on the end of the aisle a hug. Each person in turn gave their neighbor sitting next to them a hug. We ended the service by singing "Search My Soul". After the service milk and cookies were offered.