The Table

Sunday April 25, 2010 10:30 am
The Table (Inside The Academy); 437 Stradbrook ave.

After my adventures through South Africa and a whole whack of fascinating and diverse churches, I was fairly secure in the notion that there was nothing left in Winnipeg capable of surprising me. God in His wisdom decided that wasn't an acceptable state of affairs.

Enter The Table. When I heard that there was a church held inside The Academy I didn't believe it. The Academy is a longstanding bar and eatery that recently moved into larger accommodations in Winnipeg's hip Osborne Village. Walking up there was no signage indicating that there was a church there, and I lingered at the door until I could follow somebody in.

A handful of people were milling around in the empty restaurant having coffee and dainties and if it wasn't for the logo projected on the wall of the stage, I would've thought it was The Academy any morning of the week. The moment I walked in I was warmly greeted and by the five minute mark I think I'd been introduced to just about everybody in the place. I met the pastor, who invited me to talk sometime, and chatted with people about my year and the church's history (though I didn't find out where they stand theologically).

The service began with a sort of gong-bowl calling people to worship. Some people stood in the open area in front of the stage, some sat on the bar stools around the periphery and some in the restaurant area in the back. It was a kind of informal church I'd never seen before. People still had their coffee cups and someone went around with refills periodically. A fellow with a guitar and a female singer led the music for the service.

Let's talk about the music, because that's what I like to do. Throughout the service there were a couple of worship songs I recognized, a converted hymn and a modified Taize chant that accompanied communion (which was open to everyone). Of course if I was having trouble before figuring out what this church is about, after seeing the diversity of music I was lost (but certainly not in a bad way. I loved it).

A guest speaker (I've forgotten his name) did the sermon. The first few minutes were spent expanding on the concept of water and I really had no idea where he was going. Then he started talking about the woman at the well (John 4) and it kind of made sense, since Jesus used a metaphor of living water. Then the speaker said a whole bunch of things that I really, really liked. Direct quote: "So Jesus knows all of my shit, and it's a good thing? ...Yes." He said that when the Samaritan woman went to her village and presented the fact that Jesus knew everything about her - including her sordid past - as a good thing, it serves to show us that yes, Jesus knows all of our shit and still loves us. There are two sides to Jesus, he said, that can indeed coexist: the holy side and the honest side. I've got to say that this resonated with me.

He ended the sermon talking about how we use placebos for the "living water" of Jesus; how things like consumerism and substance abuse can be tied back to a deep need for fulfillment and love, replacements for the love of God. He also said, however, that Jesus Himself is often used as a placebo: we assume that Jesus will make everything in our lives good, a "five-minute fix," when instead life is a journey that consists of good and bad. Jesus is not here to make everything fine. He's going to do that later. He's here right now to walk with us on our journey, through whatever may come.

Anyway. Excepting the beginning, one of the best sermons I've heard. At the end the speaker led a prayer exercise, playing some music and water images and inviting us up to the front to place a stone in a jug of water, the stone representing a placebo or something bad that we need to bring to God and get rid of. I really, really like that kind of experimental worship and prayer.

I talked to some more people at the end of the service, got invited to a barbecue (but had to decline) and left feeling really good. I'll definitely be going back, hopefully in about a month. I forgot to mention, the congregation was about thirty people and very diverse. The bulk of it was younger (20s to early 30s) couples with a few older folks thrown in. One child under the age of 18. What a cool morning.

http://www.thetablewinnipeg.com/The_Table/Home.html

The Madcap Returns

Hey all

You may have noticed I've been a bit silent lately. For good reason, I promise you: I just returned from a 3-month trip to South Africa with the Outtatown discipleship school based out of Winnipeg's CMU. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience.

Anyhow, since I've still yet to find a home church I'll still be attending different churches, and I figure why not keep up with my posting too. I'm definitely more on the lookout for a home church than I was before, perhaps evidenced by the fact that I repeated two churches (though I didn't blog about them) over the Christmas holidays: Bethel Mennonite and Oasis.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and exploring more of the faith communities Winnipeg has to offer. I saw some pretty cool worship in Africa; a gospel church in a city called Soweto officially set my record for longest service, clocking at 3 and a half hours (and we left early). It was also one of the coolest services I've ever been to: so much singing and praising, and a spirit of joy in worship that I've never found anywhere else.

I wrote some notes in my journal whenever we went to church in SA, so I might compile them later into a post of their own.

Continuing on the journey,

-Brock