It took me 40 minutes to make the 15 miles between the center of Oklahoma City and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Edmond. Construction traffic.

I got there in time for Adult Bible Study at 6pm. They were in the last chapter of a book, Prayer: An Adventure with God, from the LifeGuide series by Intervarsity Press. The last lesson, “Praying with Confidence”, was based on Luke 11:1-13. One of the questions at the end was focused on what we can do if we don’t feel like praying every day. Another asked what things we can do to make our prayers better. At the end I wanted to interject a little Gospel in there, that even though we don’t pray perfectly, our prayers are made acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5, Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:26-27).

After Bible study I heard a band warm up in the church sanctuary. A rack of folders with song lyrics (no music) stood by the door. At the last row of pews, the offering plate sat with a couple of checks in it. Seeing no bulletin and no ushers, I asked a gentleman at the door if there were any bulletins or order of service. He said that the service was “unstructured”, and “yeah, we have the hymnals in the pews but we never use them.” I sat down.

The pastor greeted the congregation in business casual, standing outside the communion rail, never entering the chancel during the whole service. He took a request from the praise band at the front, in the corner of the sanctuary. The praise band led the congregation in “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love” (lyrics).

A procession of the cross followed, to everyone singing “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” (lyrics). The pastor said the Invocation, then announced the birthday of the 9-year-old acolyte. The congregation sang “Happy Birthday” with second verse “God’s Blessings to You…”. The pastor then announced that the father, who was in the praise band, had a special song to sing to her. The father asked the girl what she wanted to hear. The band led the congregation in singing “One Name” (lyrics), a song I had never heard before.

The pastor read Psalm 104. He noted that he liked the song because it begins and ends with praise, and he particularly liked verse 21, where even the creatures seek their food from God. “Shout to the Lord” (lyrics) followed.

The vicar came to the front of the pews to deliver his message. He read Jonah 3, pausing after verse 3, “Good idea, Jonah.” Sermon notes are blocked off by lines, standard disclaimer:

More and more we find ourselves in Jonah’s shoes. Family, neighbors, and pretty much everyone here believed in the Word of God. This isn’t always the case any more. I had a conversation about abortion with John, one of my friends. I knew John wasn’t a Christian, but I told him what the Bible said. He said, “Yeah, but that’s your God.” I spoke with a college student, who tried to discuss issues by appealing to scripture. It didn’t work; scripture has lost authority. We feel like Jonah, not wanting to talk. We think about how we can live in the world. If we can’t base our arguments on scripture, we feel like we have the rug pulled out from under us.

That’s not the picture God paints in Jonah 3. God would have us speak. Jonah was sent to get the Ninevites to repent. In Matthew 5, Jesus says that the sun falls on both the bad and the good. He gives us good government as part of our daily bread. Part of this daily bread we provide to our neighbor.

Jonah spoke the word of the Lord, telling Nineveh it would be overturned in 40 days. In Hebrew the verb actually means to “turn itself over”. Jonah didn’t need details. The people stopped fighting and started fasting. In the third chapter of Nahum, Nahum describes the Ninevites: “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!” “…all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.” Full of plunder. Yet the king hears the word of Jonah and knows he’s done wrong. Before Jonah shows up, he orders the fast. Nineveh was turned upside-down.

We may not be able to use scripture when people don’t believe. We can appeal instead to the natural result of wickedness. Instead of appealing to scripture, say for example, to ban prostitution in Nevada, we say it’s necessary because of disease and the harm done to spouses and families. We as Christians have an advantage when discussing these issues—we rest on the Word of God.

Does God manipulate out of fear, like in Jonah? If that’s what it takes. In Romans 7 or 8 (I think the vicar means Romans 13) people obey God through fear of the government. Even when the ruler is not Christian, he is still God’s tool. God doesn’t want to manipulate us by fear; rather he wants to motivate us. God works through fear in those who only believe in “conquer, or be conquered.” We live instead under grace. We are free to serve. Jonah goes into an unfriendly place, but God used Jonah to bring peace. He uses us to bring peace not by fear but by faith and hope. Amen.

The vicar then remarked that he ended with four minutes left, so that the congregation could sing more.

The congregation was led in singing “The Lord is Present in His Sanctuary”, another song I hadn’t heard before. I can’t find lyrics for this online.

The pastor knelt at the communion rail, said the Invocation again, then said a prayer on behalf of the congregation. When he was finished, there was a moment of quiet, then 8 other people said spontaneous prayers in succession, varying in issues from new babies to the sick to the weather. A college student praying to “Daddy God” prayed for help in her class schedule. Some would say “Thank you” when finished; others left it quiet for the next person. After the last one finished, it was silent for about 10 seconds, and then the pastor led the congregation in the Lord’s Prayer.

The pastor stood, faced the congregation, and said the Benediction. The cross was recessed out accompanied by a song that had the words of the Doxology, but a tune I had never heard before (I know of two others).

While everyone filed out, the pastor approached me and asked my name. I told him, and he remarked that it was a good German name. I told him why I was here, with regards to the whole Sunday morning thing. He said he understood and said the good German Wednesday services start up at Lent; until then it’s contemporary.

Reaction

I’ve tried to be objective above, especially about the service. I do have some reaction towards some parts, and not just because it’s “contemporary”. It’s late, and maybe I’ll post further reaction another day.