Big Events Call for Big Responses
Gathering in Cleveland draws a crowd
By Mary Robin Craig
As the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland came to a close, I spent a couple of hours downtown, wandering around to take pictures and to soak up the atmosphere – for the most part cheerful, hospitable, and relaxed.
Three months ago, when the convention loomed in the distant future, I mentioned to our church council that we needed to consider making a public response to this national event in our front yard.
Silence.
“What do you mean?” someone finally asked. I responded to the effect that we as a church are called to take a leadership role in the public square, calling for graciousness and civility and hopefulness in times of great national significance.
Questions followed. A service during our regular Sunday worship hour, or at another time? Just for us, or for the community? What about music? Might other congregations participate?
I was vague in my responses. I didn’t know the answers. What I did know was that if we were to take on something like this, be it a small evening service for a dozen members or a larger venture for the community, the ideas needed to come from the members. The congregation had never done anything like this before, but the members needed to make the decisions and take the steps to implement them.
By the time I got home late that evening, the chair of the music committee had already written to our music director, who quickly responded with enthusiasm. Within a couple of days, a few people had expressed excitement, tempered with warnings that I would likely be disappointed by the numbers of participants.
We wrote to neighboring churches. One Episcopal priest responded, and her congregation’s music director became an essential partner in our planning efforts. Our own music director swung into action, emailing his extensive network of singers and musicians and promising us a large community choir. A planning committee met several times, wrestling with questions of partisanship (none desired), fear (let’s reject that one), and a blend of national and sacred priorities (always a challenge) — in addition to discussing and sometimes wrangling over music, scripture, and prayer selections.
We gradually came to an agreement to host a Sunday afternoon service on the eve of the RNC for anyone who wanted to join us, with a focus on peace and on prayer for all of those involved in both conventions and for our nation, reeling from the violence of the past month.
We organized a liturgy around four themes: prayer for ourselves, for the church, for the city, and for the nation. We publicized our plans and received some attention from local papers. And I went to sleep the night before the service not knowing whether anyone would come, and praying that whatever happened would reflect the Spirit’s movement among us.
And did the Spirit ever move! As the afternoon sunlight poured through the windows, people filled the sanctuary.
“We need more music folders!”
“Where do you want the readers to sit? The pews are all occupied!”
Young people, older people, people from other churches, singers from all sorts of choral groups and congregations. Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and I don’t even know who else all joined in worship and prayer. The congregation was quickly swept into the mood, a combination of reverence and enthusiasm, and responded with energy and gratitude.
We are a medium-sized congregation, living and worshipping at some remove from downtown Cleveland. But we discovered that we do indeed have a role to play in the broader community, inviting others to join us in prayer and song to contemplate and to celebrate the great events of our time.
Robin Craig is a PC(USA) Minister of Word and Sacrament currently serving as interim pastor to Bethesda on the Bay Lutheran Church in Bay Village, Ohio.She is also a trained spiritual director and frequently teaches as an adjunct in the Theology and Religious Studies Department at John Carroll University.