Wednesday Class

Our part of the Church, the United Convergence Church, was so named because we came out of the Convergence Movement.

What is that? A movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church which sought to recover the basic elements of belief and practice of the early Church: evangelical, liturgical/sacramental, and charismatic--a blend, or "convergence" of these elements is a move to our roots in the ancient Church, and makes for balanced, relevant worship in the Church today. Many denominations and independent churches are "convergence" in their worship, or have a service that is. We think that's great.

Recently in our Convocation, Abbot/Bishop Jim spoke of the need of our church to continue to be a Bible church--we believe it's the written Word of God, inerrant, infallible, our authority as Christians. He reminded us that we are to read and meditate in it, as the Psalmist wrote, "day and night." He encouraged us to have our private devotions include some Bible reading.

We then agreed to begin a Bible class on Sunday mornings before Eucharist. We began studying Ephesians. Concurrent with this was the graduate/seminary level class the Abbot/Bishop and I were doing, to train me for ordination. Our clergy expressed interest in attending this class as a "refresher." Last week, most of us attended the class. We believed the Spirit moved to combine both classes. So we did.

I am working on a hefty assignment--explore and discuss the Biblical, historical, and theological origins of the Eucharist and the liturgy, and write a separate paper describing both to a person who has an evangelical and/or charismatic background but not a liturgical/sacramental background. I then offered, after I completed that, to do the same with the Sacraments.

So, here's what our Wednesday Class is like: Eucharist at 7pm. Then I orally present the next part of the assignment (tonight it's the primitive, 1st-century Eucharist) and the apostolic teaching regarding. Anyone can ask me questions, and/or discuss what I'm presenting. Then Abbot/Bishop Jim then uses that as a "launching pad" and teaches more in depth. Fr. Joe and Dcn. Laura Mathy will be with us from St. Timothy Church in Broken Arrow. If you're in Oklahoma and are interested in the beliefs and practices of the ancient Church, we invite you to attend. Come worship with us in the Eucharist and then stay for class. We are meeting here at the hermitage (the home of my wife Shirley, our cockatiel Athalia, and myself), 5901 NW 62nd St at MacArthur, in Warr Acres (NW Oklahoma City). We'll have tea (and coffee, if anyone desires).

Come as you are--dress is casual. It will be interesting!


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