Off to Germany

This evening, I catch a flight to Cologne to meet up with Kristy and to spend some time with the team that has invited us to be a part of their church planting effort. I took the train to Gatwick airport early to get some work done. I like to believe that God takes pleasure in my giddiness towards Wi-Fi. =)

Had a great time with my younger brother this last weekend. I showed him around to the usual: London Tower, St. Paul's (which we climbed to the top of), London Eye (which we did not go up in), Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, and about 3 or 4 London pubs.

The Sunday morning service at All Souls was interesting. It had a unique mix (unique in my own experience, anyway) of traditional Anglican and conservative evangelical elements to it. It was my first time seeing an Anglican infant baptism and there were responsive liturgical readings that were actually quite meaningful. The band included drums and a horn section, but wasn't lead very clearly by the two young people singing into microphones. There was one semi-contemporary song, while the others were older hymns that were actually quite triumphantly sung by the congregation. The pulpit was elevated on the stage such that it made the preacher (NOT John Stott, by the way) appear to hover in mid-air just above the heads of people in front of us. My guess is that this is intentional, so as to communicate the centrality and priority of the teaching of Scripture in the church. All in all, it was a pretty traditional, though lively church service.

It was good to chat with Jason about it afterwards, especially since he hasn't regularly attended church since high school. I prefaced my, "What'd ya think?" question to him with the thought that there have been findings of young adults actually preferring a more traditional and liturgical approach to church. He gave a thoughtful response that articulated a desire for a more personal, interactive, and creative church experience. I was impressed that his feedback addressed more than just issues of style, but reflected a desire for engagement. Now - if we can just get him to actually engage with a local church in Seattle. =)