#StayAsYouAre - Our first national worship gathering
Church sign: ‘The building is closed. The church is open’. Cartoon by Dave Walker
IN THESE extraordinary times, when we are unable to gather in physical community, we have begun to explore ways to stay connected online, starting with our first national worship gathering on YouTube this month.
Many of us across the Open Table Network will undoubtedly have been impacted by the recent escalation of health protection measures, whether that’s directly by the coronavirus itself, inability to get access to food or medication, or through the suspension of public worship in our churches.
The table is set for the Stay As You Are simple ‘agape’ service
While hardship is not unfamiliar to LGBTQIA+ Christians, these are certainly extreme times. We are keeping the situation under review and will make a decision shortly on whether to reschedule plans for our anniversary event currently scheduled for Saturday 13th June.
We are also working behind the scenes with OneBodyOneFaith and other partners to ensure our support for LGBTQIA+ Christians continues and much as we can make it happen.
Last week, one of our community leaders asked us:
do you have any plans to livestream an Open Table service? A national one would be amazing!
We hadn’t, but we like a challenge! So we put out a call to our communities across England and Wales for people to record readings or prayers for an Open Table video service so local groups and individuals can still share in inclusive, affirming worship in your own homes despite being isolated from one another.
We planned an ‘agape’ service [a simple remembrance of Jesus’ last meal with his friends before he died and rose to new life. ‘Agape’ comes from one of the Greek words for love used in the Bible. The first Christians used it to describe self-giving love for one another in community, as Jesus showed for God and for us].
To make it a real community effort, we included diverse voices from across the Network. As you can see from our logo, our motto is ‘Come as you are’, but as we can't gather in person for now, this video encourages our members, friends and enquirers to ‘Stay As You Are’.
If you missed the service broadcast on Sunday, or would like to watch again, you can see it here.
Here is the Order of Service for the Stay As You Are agape service - you may find it helpful to have a digital or paper copy to follow as you watch.
“Wonderful! Amazing! What a privilege to join with my Open Table family and to hear from so many different OT’s - to see familiar faces and to put faces to familiar names.”
You can also find it on our YouTube channel, where you will also find recordings of
the opening song ‘Come As You Are’ [3 mins], arranged and performed by Jen Williams from Open Table Sefton.
‘Come out!’ - A reflection on the Gospel of Luke chapter 11 verses 1-45, the raising of Lazarus [17 mins], by Warren Hartley, one of the founding members of the first Open Table community in Liverpool.
Taize chants also arranged and performed by Jen Williams:
In The Lord I'll Be Ever Thankful [1.5 mins]
O Lord Hear My Prayer [2 mins]
Eat This Bread [2 mins]
Nothing Can Trouble [2 mins]
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Please be assured of our continued prayers and support. We hope and pray to meet again in person as soon as it is safe enough to do so.
