Another first. I've never been to a United Reformed service before.
The style of worship was familiar enough to anyone from a CofS background that a visitor like myself would be able to hit the ground running and not feel out of place. The welcome was friendly and sincere, and it's a shame that I'm not going to be able to drop in more often.
Looking around the congregation, there was a strong community bond, as everyone circulated and chatted as friends before and after the service. I was quickly introduced to a number of members of the congregation. No hiding at the back possible today.
Like many CofS congregations, this church is in vacancy, and the service was conducted by a lay preacher. With 1500 congregations, and only 700 ministers, the role of the lay preacher is an exceptionally important one in the URC. The service today was a Communion service, which the preacher was allowed to conduct, something I'm not going to be allowed to do until after I lose my ministerial L plates.
Some small details of the Communion service stuck in my mind. first of all, after breaking the bread, the servers served the congregation, then the preacher served the servers, before the server served the preacher. Only then did we all eat together. The same happened for the wine. It's a small detail, but I liked the togetherness of it.
So it looks like we are all going to be short of ministers in the next few years. I'm all in favour of pooling our resources, showing a bit of Christian unity.
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