Church Review: Reformed Church of Canberra


Another in my series on reviewing churches. The Reformed Church of Canberra is a gem. Perhaps in some ways one of the most friendly churches I have ever visited. I ask for the bus number that runs close to their church, they volunteer to have someone pick me up. I come as a visitor, they treat me like an honored guest. I come as a stranger not knowing anyone, I am celebrated as a brother in Christ from a far away land. After church meals are a big part of church life at the Reformed Church of Canberra, at least that is what it seemed to me. I was invited to the home of a warm couple in the church who also invited a family seven to their table. The conversation was lively and diverse. I can't say enough about the hospitality of the church, on a scale of 1 t0 10 with 10 being the best, they are a 10 on hospitality.

Pastor Peter led the worship service and preached in a compelling fashion. There was not a disconnect between the music and preaching, instead this was a worship service. While the service was quite formal, I also found it refreshingly, a spiritual time of meeting God instead of music set to re-enforce the preaching. There were responsive readings and prayers that felt appropriate to the worship atmosphere. There were a variety of passages read as the public reading of the Word of God, but the passages were not too long or short.

I was impressed with the way the Lord's Supper was conducted. Fencing the table was done before the worship service even officially began. An elder read an announcement about the seriousness of taking the sacrament and how one should not take it if he is not a believer. The pastor also explained their views on the subject to me before the worship service even began and made sure I knew that as a member of a sister denomination I was welcome. I think their up front fencing of the table actually made it easier to concentrate on the meaning of the Lord's Supper. I also enjoyed how those taking communion came forward to a table, sitting on both sides of it. There was more of a feel of a meal than something being done for us. We were participating there together. A Lord's Supper order of service was taken from a book used by the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia. I thought the use of the book helped guide the service.

The music of the worship service was hymns in style but metrical Psalms were a good number of the hymns we sang. I have not attended many churches which use metrical Psalms but the Reformed Church of Canberra does it well.

Over all, I was blessed by these brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A lion, a rooster, a billy-goat and Tommy Franks go to a bar...

Image
Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him. ---Proverbs 30:29-31 (ESV) Different creatures in nature have different glories. A rooster is a glorious thing to see. He is proud of his feathers and his position. A lion knows he is a beast to be feared. A rooster would be no challenge for a lion though. A he-goat is no challenge for a lion, though he also is proud of his position and strength. When we think of a lion we think of an animal dangerous and to be feared. But in a sense, a general (king) with his troops who are equipped for battle find no match in a lion. This is especially true if we are talking about a modern general with attack helicopters, snipers, artillery, tanks and well trained troops. We all have our own gifting and glory. The glory may be small or large. One may be a
Read more

Celtic Words In English

I once heard a lecturer say that English was made up at its heart three languages; Anglo-Saxon (A Germanic tongue), French (influence from William the Conquerer A.D. 1066), and Latin (from the church and scholars). She also mentioned that Celtic had been the language of England before the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and some “tie together words” had been brought into English. I assumed she meant words which tie sentences together, or nouns. But I was not sure which words she meant in particular. So I did a little research to find out what those relics in our language are. It seems that Celtic has few words surviving in English. I'm not counting the Celtic words which came in through other languages such as French. I'm not sure that there is a definitive list of Celtic words in English but here are a few I found in various places on the Internet and a book I have. ass (borrowed earlier by the Celts from the Latin asinus) bannock bard blarney bucket car cart clock coll
Read more

Was the New Testament Letters Only Written to Male Brothers?

  Question:   Was the Bible written to men only and not to women?   Some teach that the New Testament letters address brothers exclusively.      Executive Summary Answer:   Women and men share in the blessings of the gospel, Scripture was written for both women and men. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27 ESV) Answer:   The Bible recognizes differences between genders but also recognizes the commonality between male and female genders.   The book of Proverbs is written to sons to gain wisdom.   “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”   (Prov. 1:8-9 ESV) The book of Proverbs was written in order to teach young men wisdom.   Even so, often it is the female gender that teaches wisdom.   Early in the book, the male gender, a son, is to embrace the teaching from a member of the
Read more