I've somehow found myself helping to lead Graceland, the church's semi-regular evening alt-worship service. (No, we haven't got a website yet...) If alt-worship is the buzzword, then really what we're trying to do is, quite simply, to seek God. It's more relective and experimental than our morning worship services, and there's more room for personal thought and self-expression. I find it encouraging that it does, after all, seem to be possible to be a Christian while still retaining the ability to think.
Planning for Graceland has got me back on one of my favourite hobby-horses, the question of what church is actually for. At the moment, I'm chewing over Bonhoeffer's ecclesiology: put very simply, the idea that church is a place where relationship is restored- our relationships with each other and with our creator. This definition appeals to me because it's simple and elegant, and has the ring of truth about it. I think it really sums up what worship and prayer are all about, and it encompasses the Bible too, which explains more what restoring relationship means in every day life. I find this definition quite liberating too, because it leaves so much scope for worshipping God and building community in new and different ways. So having a meal with a group of people who are seeking God can be every bit as much an expression of church as singing hymns, lighting candles or enjoying God as revealed in his creation.
Am I getting woolly and liberal in my old age? I just love to explore new ways to worship God. It strikes me as a particularly worthwhile exercise, since the traditional (or at least most common) modes of church seem to be becoming less and less relevant to the world outside the church. The gospel never changes, of course, but isn't it time to exercise a bit of courage and try expressing it in new ways?