Dear St. Bart's,
I want to invite you to the Imagine Worship NYC gathering at St. Bart's this coming Monday, October 3 at 7 pm, a service of Holy Eucharist in the round, embracing modern musical styles and audio/visual technology in the context of Episcopal worship.
In lieu of a traditional sermon, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry (a.k.a. “The Royal Wedding Preacher”) will be joining us in dialogue with Bishop Rob Wright of Atlanta, reflecting on where and how the Good News is to be found in the midst of the chaos and confusion of the present times.
Music will be offered by acclaimed gospel artist Jason McGee of the Grammy-winning Maverick City Music, together with a mass choir of more than 100 voices, made up of volunteer singers from across the region.
This gathering is meant to be both attractional and strategic. Our three-year strategic plan challenges St. Bart's to grow in number and in diversity. For this gathering, we are inviting participants and choir volunteers to indicate their date of birth, zip code, home congregation, and contact information at registration.
So far, the most common decade of birth among the choir has been the 1990s, with folks coming from an extraordinarily wide variety of neighborhoods, communities, racial and religious backgrounds. Many are coming from other denominations, but about half have not listed a home church. Some have listed choir as their primary spiritual community!
In the weeks following, we plan to host a Zoom discussion with those from St. Bart's in attendance to debrief and reflect on the experience. We will use the learnings and observations gained as we discern and dream about how we might expand (not replace!) the array of regular worship offerings and spiritual life programs offered by St. Bart's to reach new neighbors and demographics in the future.
I suspect that everyone in the room will be inspired, stretched, and challenged in some way — and that's a good thing! My hope is that as a congregation committed to radical welcome we will be able to recognize the value this gathering affords us to experience worship in a whole new way while introducing dozens if not hundreds of people to St. Bart’s, the Episcopal Church, and perhaps even an inclusive expression of Christianity broadly speaking for the very first time!
Childcare will be available in Room 52 of the community house. The service will be professionally recorded and released on demand on October 20 at 7 pm. Learn more about the origins of Imagine Worship and watch previous services at http://www.imagineworship.online.
I hope you'll consider joining us. Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more and RSVP here.
Blessings,
