Vimeo Find: Biblical Truth

World Communion Sunday

The first Sunday of  October is World Communion Sunday, the Sunday when churches across denominational lines are encouraged to recognize their individual part in the Body of Christ by taking communion together and making communion a focal point of worship.

Some churches partake in communion every week, others do it on the first Sunday of each month. Sadly, for others, World Communion Sunday may be the only time their members get to experience Holy Communion.

For those of us who regularly "do" communion, World Communion Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate the richness of the Holy Communion experience.

Here are some ideas for your World Communion Sunday experience:

• Decorate the altar table with...
  
  • Many different colored fabrics representing cultures from around the world - an African kente cloth for instance
  • Multiple breads - Artificial breads will work, but why not get some unsold breads at the end of the day from local bakeries or Panera?
  • Grapes on the vine - Artificial grapes are suggested because you can use them again
  • Wheat stalks - Represents the bread, but is also a nice reminder that we're starting the autumn season.
  • A globe or maps
  • What else? Leave comments with ideas.
     
• The sense of smell is the sense that is probably least used these days in worship. We can change that!
  • Bake breads in the sanctuary the day before or early that morning. Here's an easy bake oven recipe.
  • Place grape scented candles or bread scented candles around the room and burn them Sunday morning. Grape candles from Yankee Candles are great if you can find some because the scent is so strong. Soy candles are usually a safe bet. Check these out!
   

Here's a great idea from the 2011 Summer Church Music Workshop from the Florida Chapter of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. They used multicolored paper dolls to represent the Body of Christ!

There's so much more to be done... Leave your comments with more ideas!

Below is a video from St. John United Church of Christ in Freeport, IL that you can download at Vimeo to show on Sunday if you'd like.

Decorating the Sanctuary

Why is it that the only time we decorate the sanctuary is for...

• Advent/Christmas
• Lent/Palm Sunday/Easter
• Weddings

What if the worship space was actually worshipful? What if it was beautiful?

Check out what Reedville Church in Aloha, OR has done in the past at their Picasa page.

How to make video loops with After Effects

Vimeo Find: Scrabble Animation

Videos for Worship

There are tons of sites across the world wide web that offer videos. Here is a collection you may not know about. It's a group that anyone on Vimeo can contribute to simply called Videos for Worship. Many of the videos are downloadable as long as you are logged in to Vimeo.

What are sites you use regularly to find videos for worship? Leave us a comment below.

Music - The Path

Use of different styles of instrumental music is always great in worship experiences, whether just in the background as people enter, to be played throughout an experience, or as a focal point of a particular moment of a service.

The Path is an intriguing album that features well known hymns in several styles from around the world.

It just makes scents...

If candles or incense aren't enough to engage the sense of smell in worship, I suppose this will have to do.

CONFETTI: ENVIRO SCENTS PUTS SCENT INTO EVENTS

Time-lapse video - Names & characteristics of God

We've been Groovified

@groovify on Twitter created this music playlist for us based on Brian Eno's "Thursday".

The Art Station

One of the easiest and sometimes most effective worship stations you can create is a simple art station.

At some point in our church experience--probably around middle school--we stop using art to express ourselves. Vacation Bible School is a distant memory and, for many of us, the only time we touch construction paper or play dough is if we are with a child. What if we remember that we too can worship with our whole selves?

Put up a couple tables, throw down some canvas for tablecloths, spread out art supplies and watch what happens--beauty from so little work. It's amazing what can happen when you incorporate a little paint, some crayons, glue sticks, canvas and paper into worship. The community creates as a response to God and magic takes place.

A Stations of the Cross Experience

This experience has been updated for 2023 and the files can be found here.

As we prepare for Lent 2011 at the church I attend, McKendree UMC in downtown Nashville, I've been remembering a stations of the cross installation we did at The Well, a gathering we held at Grace UMC in Mt Juliet, TN from 2005-2006.

Here's what we did and how we did it. You can view photos for most of the stations on Flickr.

I should say first that the installation we did was very three dimensional and certainly interactive. We didn't want to do an art exhibit, we wanted it to be something that participants engage in. It's also an individualistic contemplative prayer experience.

We made the mistake of setting a time as if this were a worship service. So, everyone showed up at the same time. For other installations we realized we should just open it up to the community for several hours and ask people to come as they please during that time.

So, when we did installations of this nature later, we would allow just a few people in at a time and stagger them in. We would always encourage family members and spouses to travel through this experience in silence on their own. On the other hand, we encouraged parents of small children to take their kids with them and explain each station to them. This is an experience even toddlers can get a lot out of.

We got a lot of ideas from Stations of the Cross installations on Small Fire and from around the net, but as we worked on it, the stations took on a life of their own.

Here are the guidelines we went by, along with pictures.

WORSHIP SPACE

• The space should be open with plenty of room between each station
• Place large printed numbers at each station so people know where to go after each station
• Use overhead projectors to project stained glass windows on the wall
• Room should be darkened and lit by candles and small lamps
• Stained glass light bulbs are perfect for this and can be bought at Target or Wal-Mart
• Use artwork at each station for each particular event. Always seek art from within the community, but we also print classic images from the internet on photo paper. Get cheap frames at Big Lots, Dollar General, or Wal-Mart to make them look like real pieces of art.
• Use tons of fabric - particularly on the tables, but even on the walls or floors.

MUSIC

Background music is incredibly important for setting the mood during this experience and can be played from an iPod or computer.

• Ambient music, drumless/rhythmless, preferably dark in minor keys.
• Middle Eastern influenced ambient music works very well
• Should be quiet but heard
  
  
• Here is an Apple Music Playlist

STATIONS:

Each station included:

• Instructions on 17x11 paper
• Prayer on 8½ x 11 paper
• Reflection instructions on 17 x 11 paper
  

1. JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DIE
   
   Participants are invited to remember the times they have washed their hands of Christ.
   
   Supplies:
   • Images of Pontius Pilate washing his hands
   • 2 large bowls, preferably stone/ceramic (old) - one is filled with "blood", one is filled with water
   • Pitchers of fresh water
   • Karo Syrup & red food coloring
   • Wet wipes
   • Paper towels
   • Large trash can

The water bowl needs to be emptied and refilled from time to time when no participants are traveling through the stations

2. JESUS CARRIES HIS CROSS
   
   Got this idea as well as the idea for stations 6 and 11 from Grace, which is held at St. Mary's Church in London. Check out their stations here.
   
   Participants take a hand cross to carry with them until they "offload" it at station 11
   
   Supplies:
   • Hand crosses cut from cardboard boxes
     
     

3. JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME
   
   Supplies:
   • Easel with painting of first fall
   • Large cookie sheet with sand. hand and knee prints and a few drops of blood
     
     

4. JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER
   
   
   Participants view items and images that conjure up images of Christ's childhood as Jesus remembers his life with this woman, his mother.
   
   Supplies:
   • Empty manger with swaddling cloths
   • Virgin Mary candle (available in some Kroger Hispanic sections)
   • Items that conjure images of a small boy and mother
     
     

5. SIMON HELPS JESUS CARRY HIS CROSS
   
   Participants add a rock to an already heavy backpack to represent a sin in their lives. Preferably they continue to walk with the backpack until station 11.
   
   Supplies:
   • Rocks & bricks of different sizes, shapes and texture
   • Backpacks/knapsacks
     
     

6. VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS
   
   Participants help create a community icon of Christ's face
   
   Supplies:
   • Cloth with blood/sweat
   • Torn pieces of construction paper or magazines depending on which direction we decide to go
   • Large thick posterboard for mosaic
     

7. JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME
   
   Supplies:
   • Easel with painting of second fall
   • Large cookie sheet with sand, larger prints and a little more blood
     
     

8. JESUS MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM
   
   Got the idea for this and station 11 from Sanctuary, which was held at St. Matthew's Church in Bath, England. See pictures here.
   
   Participants ink their fingers and leave prints in the book as they view images of women from their lives
   
   Supplies:
   • Scrapbook with pictures of women from the church as well as famous women from the world
   • Washable kid ink pads
   • Wet wipes
   • Paper towels
   • Large trash can
     

9. JESUS FALLS THE THIRD TIME
   
   Supplies:
   • Easel with painting of second fall
   • Large cookie sheet with sand, more pebbles, larger prints and a little more blood
     
     

10. JESUS IS STRIPPED
    
    Supplies:
    Mural of artwork depicting the stripping of Christ
    
    
11. JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS
    
    Participants nail the hand crosses they've been carrying since station 2 to a large cross. Backpacks from station 5 are left beside the cross as well.
    
    Supplies:
    • Large black cross
    • Carpet or large area rug
    • Hammers (preferably of different sizes)
    • Bowls of nails
      
      

12. JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS
    
    Participants are invited to write a confession on a post-it note and stick it to the cross. they are instructed to take a candy as a sign of God's forgiveness.
    
    Supplies:
    • Sponge on stick
    • Bowl of vinegar
    • Crown of thorns
    • Large nails (railroad ties)
    • Robe
    • Post-it notes
    • Pens and pencils
    • Bowl with hard candy
      
      

13. JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS
    
    Supplies:
    • Empty blood stained cross
    • Printed artwork of this event
      
      

14. JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB
    
    Supplies:
• Large white canopy with walls
• Overhead projector projecting tomb on outer wall
• Green carpet (preferably golf-grass or a carpet like they use in tents at burials)
• Coffin
• Flowers
• Candles (preferred scent is hydrangea, lily, other flowers to conjure up memories of the "funeral home smell")
• Images of Christ in tomb
• Dark fabric hung on walls
• Small table with juice and bread
  

Multisensory and Participatory Worship Experiences

mul·ti·sen·so·ry (məl-tē-ˈsen(t)-sə-rē) adj. Relating to or involving several bodily senses. 

par·tic·i·pa·to·ry (pär-ˈti-sə-pə-ˌtȯr-ē) adj. Characterized by or involving participation

For many of us, Sunday morning looks like this: We gather, we sing, we read (sometimes aloud), we listen to teaching in the form of a sermon, we go home, we go about our lives.
In educational circles we've known for years that there are three types of learners:

• Auditory learners - those who learn by listening
• Visual learners - those who learn by seeing
• Kinesthetic learners - those who learn by doing

In the church we've mastered auditory teaching. In many communities, it's the only way we communicate the Gospel in church gatherings. Over the past twenty years or so, churches have increasingly added visual elements, most of them on a screen projected from a computer.

Kinesthetic learning almost never takes place in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning and adults rarely ever participate in kinesthetic learning within the church walls.
 
A Chinese proverb states, “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

What if we lived by that proverb in the Church? What if we opened the door to see all the people truly involved in worship.

This blog is here to serve as a gathering place for ideas, instructions, resources, and support to help you create worship experiences for the whole church. Some of these ideas can be incorporated into worship gatherings to compliment traditional worship services (for the purposes of this sentence I mean any service that has music and preaching--no matter the musical style). And some of these ideas are standalone experiences that serve as the message and supersede the need for a sermon, liturgy or corporate singing.

So come on in and take a seat. Actually, scratch that. Get up and move around. We're about to experience worship.