Saturday, June 13, 2009
A service for the peopleChrist Lutheran Church
Christ Lutheran Church is attracting fresh faces with its lively contemporary services on Sunday evenings.Send us your religion news Your Community, P.O. Box 2491 Roanoke, VA 24010 or e-mail your community@roanoke.com
Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times
Deb Hillman, minister of Christian formation, leads an outdoor service in song in the parking lot at Christ Lutheran Church on Brandon Avenue.
The Rev. David Skole (left) plays guitar as he helps lead a Sunday evening outdoor service at Christ Lutheran Church in Roanoke.
Click the button above to see all of our community coverage, or go straight to your community's homepage with the menu below.
More religion stories
- Day of prayer to focus on unity
- Slovak professors bring insight into Communism
- Religion calendar
- Church works hard to achieve simplicity
- Religion calendar
Archive
At its 5:30 p.m. Sunday services, Christ Lutheran Church translates ecclesiastic language into the language of the people.
The lector becomes the "reader"; Kyrie becomes the refrain "Lord have mercy"; and the sermon becomes the "scripture interpretation."
Since April, Christ Lutheran has held a contemporary service in its parking lot on the busy intersection of Brandon Avenue and Grandin Road. An amplified band plays and people dress informally. Organizers say the goal is to be accessible and to offer a different style of worship for members.
"We want the service to be an outreach to welcome those who aren't familiar with the church by speaking their language," said Rachel Meier, the pastoral intern who organizes the service. "We kept the pieces, and took away the scary old-time language."
Many denominations have "contemporary" services that are relatively relaxed. But in Lutheranism, one of Protestant Christianity's most liturgical and sacramental branches, it's not very common.
During Sunday's service, people driving by peered curiously from their cars at the intersection. In the parking lot, several dozen people in shorts and skirts and flip-flops listened as the band -- led by the Rev. David Skole with a short-sleeve button-down and an acoustic guitar -- played bright, upbeat songs.
Meier explained in simple language during the interpretation of the scripture, which was John 3:1-17, that God's family consists of people who serve their neighbors and project God's love.
After the service, members such as Janice Hall, who brought along her almost 3-year-old granddaughter Harmony, said she went because it was relaxed and child-friendly.
There was also Matt Covington, who said the upbeat songs such as "Father I Adore You" and "Awesome God" reminded him of the summer camp where he met his wife, Angie.
"It's nice because it's outdoors," he said.
Even though most people at the service were Christ Lutheran members, Meier said there have been people from the neighborhood who have wandered into the service out of curiosity and a man who stops by as part of his Sunday afternoon walk.
There was also David Owens, a 45-year-old who lives across from the church on Brandon Avenue. He said he was drawn to the service, and has considered changing membership from his church in North Roanoke County to Christ Lutheran.
"I like this church," he said. "I like the people and I like the way they sing."
The church, of course, still holds its traditional services Sunday mornings. But Meier said the contemporary service would continue to evolve.
"We're getting better at the service," she said with a chuckle. "We're starting to know what we're doing."
