Friday Evening Services: A Deeper Union

Hi CSP Family!

I’d like to extend to you an invitation to our next Friday evening service. I’d also like to take a moment to share more about these services, their purpose and vision.

We’ve developed a beautiful rhythm as of late. We come together Sunday morning to praise, pray, learn, and celebrate the Eucharist. We’ve kicked off our formation pathway, Practicing The Way, offering the opportunity to dive deeper in understanding and practice of the way of Jesus. We are engaging in outreach together through the Alpha Course. These are a few pieces of our yearly rhythm. In all that we offer and do together, we seek to create a complete picture of what it means to follow and be formed by Jesus, to have a deeper union with God. All of these pieces are complementary, working together to complete the full picture.

And this brings me to our Friday evening services. The Holy Spirit has been drawing my attention, and the attention of our prayer team, to these services. For some time now, they have been a highlight of our year. We have felt a special draw though in the past few months. In response to this prompting, we have spent time in prayer and conversation, refining and casting what we believe is God’s vision for this service. I’d like to share a moment of inspiration from a conversation I had with Frances Tovey, our senior warden, and committed member of the prayer team. As we sat together sharing our hopes for the service and trying to put words to what it offers, one of us said “this is the space where we PRACTICE what we’ve learned.” Something clicked in a big way. It all made sense, and has been the hope of this service all along. This is the space set aside to seek a deeper connection with God, to learn and practice the presence, work, and love of God through prayer, music, and story telling.

So what does this look like? Well, if you are seeking a space to offer adoration and praise through musical worship, this night is for you. It’s also a space to simply sit and receive God’s love and care. If you would like to receive prayer, this is a no pressure environment with prayer teams at the ready. Come and be inspired to faith as others just like you share stories of how they have experienced God in their own lives. And finally, this is a space to grow in your understanding and practice. Come. Learn to practice listening prayer. Pray for others. Intercede on behalf of those for whom you care. No expertise is required. We all come just as we are to learn to use the gifts God has given us. And as we learn in this safe space, we will be better equipped to share God’s gifts outside the church walls.

The music and prayer teams are partnering to provide an intentionally structured service, leading us through a unique theme each time we gather. Some evenings will be marked by story telling, others may focus on a specific practice. All services will offer time and space for prayer and contemplative, musical worship. You will find the service music tasteful and inspiring, creating a beautiful space for prayer and ministry, regardless of any musical preference, contemporary or traditional, you may have.

I’d like to offer a personal note. It has been my experience, that when we are intentional about offering God time and space, he honors it in more ways than we can imagine. The times that God has used others to intervene in my life, to speak encouragement to me, to guide me, to bring deliverance and healing, to answer my prayers, have been in spaces such as these. I look forward to sharing some of these stories during our Friday evening services. I look forward to hearing the stories of others as well. I look forward to new stories being written in our midst as we gather for these Friday evening services! And through the sharing of these experiences of God’s lavish goodness, care, and provision, we will continue to grow in expectation, eagerly looking to Him as our source of life and care. God absolutely loves it when we show up!

So, let us seek a deeper union with God, practicing together the way of Jesus.

Your Worship Leader,

Tim