Ron Rienstra

The other day I was grocery shopping. The cashier and I exchanged the standard “How are you doing today?” But this time she took my question seriously. “Not so good.” “Why is that?” I asked, going (somewhat unwillingly) into pastoral care mode. “I had a hard weekend. Two funerals—an aunt and a friend.”

4/10 Planning Meeting The team helped me make sense of the cryptic note I’d made on our order of worship for last year’s service: “Too big, too fast.” They remembered how the beginning especially felt like forced celebration. All those “Alleluia”s and “He is risen”s and a long set of exuberant songs to start things up. But the night was cloudy and dreary, and the team was tuckered out from helping to lead the “pull out the stops” services in their home churches that morning.

The Internet was first touted to the general public as an extraordinary information-sharing tool: a resource to help like-minded people exchange knowledge, encouragement, and inspiration. But today what people share, as often as anything else, is credit card numbers. Everyone, it seems, is out to make a buck—even in the world of worship. There are dozens of sites on the web that offer worship resources—drama, music, liturgy, technical advice, even sermons—for a price.

Vol. 2. Canton, Ohio: Communication Resources, 2001. 187 pp. $49.95; includes CD. 1-800-992-2144; order@Com Resources.com.

Vol. 1. 1998. 234 pp. $43.95; with diskette, 49.95; Vol. 2 (2001) 216 pp. $49.95, includes CD. Canton, Ohio: Communication Resources, 2001. order@ComResources.com

Edited by Georges Lemopoulos. Geneva: WCC Publications.1996. 97 pp. $8.95. To order from the New York office: 212-70-3193; fax 212-870-2528.

We developed and have used or adapted this litany for several Thanksgiving services. The structure is simple—the leader gives thanks for very specific things, and the people affirm their thanks for those items with a more general phrase. We encourage the use of several different leaders on the different sections of the litany.

11/27 Neal just e-mailed his topic for Sunday’s service. Texts are Genesis 1, John 1, and Ecclesiastes 3—“A Time to Be Silent.” Says there’s a rhythm between silence and speaking, a rhythm as old as creation, seen in the Incarnation. In the fullness of time, God finally speaks the Word into the world. Makes sense to use silence in the service. The trick will be how to make the silence as lively and participatory as the singing.

Sharlande Sledge. Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. 1999. 144 pp. $16.00. 1-800-747-3016; www.helwys.com.

Nick Wagner. San Jose, Calif.: Resource Publications, Inc. 2000. 96 pp. Paper $10.95. 1-888-273-7782; www.rpinet.com.