Tuesday before Sunday again!
Here I am still struggling with the context of Sunday evening's service. It's at this point that I wish I had never called the service "Blood on the street". Someone commented on the theme last night, "Oh that's an attractive title for a service", what they were really saying was , "that'll pack them in." And then Maggie (our minister in training), this morning, looked up from her desk and said, "Oh your doing 'Blood on the street' boss, this Sunday, I'm looking forward to that one." Now I'm recalling a telephone conversation with a colleague yesterday morning,( he's a friend who lives in Edinburgh, with a creative theological streak), I thought I'd run the idea of a street communion by him, he's usually quite supportive. Only, this time he was polite but hesitant. I don't think he warmed to 'Blood on the street', He was really not very supportive when I told him my plans to film a communion service on the street and use it all as part of our alternative worship experience.
It was an interesting conversation that strayed into what it is we do when we have communion. It also raised the whole issue of celebrating communion in someone else's parish. Indeed would it be more authentic to be done in Bo'ness rather than using a busy city street as a backdrop. Of course the more obvious question, who is communion for, is it right to place it on the street, offering it to those who pass by?
I knew where he was coming from. Where does the film maker in me stop and the worship leader begin? Where do you draw the line and understand that your idea is more about the idea, and its execution,( pardon the pun),than the message the idea relates? It's the old Marshall McCluan quote, "the medium is the message," and he was right.
Maybe the timing isn't right for a street communion this week. Maybe Good Friday, would be a better time. Maybe its something that every minister should think about, this Easter. Imagine if we all took the bread and the wine out on the street.
One colleague has alerted me to an interesting little film centred around this idea. I think we'll work through some of these issues and come up with something that will challenge us all this Sunday. I've a song in mind and a film to make somewhere tomorrow. Could it be Falkirk, Glasgow or Edinburgh ? I'll sleep on it. However one thing still disturbs me. Why is it that we shy away from the title. Its too violent, I think we want our communion to be kept in the right place on the table in the sanctuary behind the safety of our church walls. The truth is the act that has brought about our redemption took place in the middle of a busy rubbish dump. I think, I'm almost certain there was blood on the street that day.
