A truly busy weekend

The last weekend of October 2009 was a busy one for the students from the course RELP 377 Christian Worship and Music. For the past three weeks the students had been putting together the program for the Sabbath worship service. Their assignment was to produce a Word-based worship experience and they accomplished the assignment with flying colors.
The worship was a dramatic re-en­actment of the story of King Josiah. It took the congregation through the crucial period of Josiah’s life which culminated with the celebration of the Passover. The worship commenced with a portrayal of the apostasy of his father Amon, followed by the reforms of Josiah, the discovery of the Torah scroll, and the subsequent Passover.
The congregation participated in some­thing new: multiple group worship ex­periences within the sanctuary and the distribution of food (a doughnut) to each worshipper. This brought the Pass­over to life. The three attending priests read substantial portions of the book of Deuteronomy as was done for King Josiah. This was the centre-piece of the worship. The detailed props erected on the stage added to the ambience of the worship and rendered the worship a multiple intelligences learning experi­ence.
For the class, this beautiful worship was followed by a Sabbath lunch which helped to build the camaraderie in the group. Then at 5 o’clock the following morning, Sunday, November 1, 2009, the students boarded the University bus for their class field trip. The trip took them to a 7:30 morning service at Christ Church, an Anglican church on Sathorn Road, Bangkok. This worship is the traditional ‘high’ church of the Anglican denomina­tion. This was a marked contrast to the worship the students had had the previous day. All of them (with the exception of an Anglican student in the group) admit­ted that it was their first time to taste this high liturgical form of worship.
From Christ Church, the class proceeded to Calvary Baptist on Sukhumvit Soi 2, Bangkok. The 10:45 morning worship ser­vice is similar to conventional Adventist worship. However, the church had the organ, a piano, a guitar, and drums for their accompaniment. The worship was more contemporary in style. The Lord’s Supper at Calvary Baptist was celebrat­ed in the same way as in most Adventist churches but without the ordinance of humility (foot washing).
After the service (around 12:30 pm), the group drove to MBK for lunch and a little bit of shopping. The class made it back to campus just in time for the Loy Krathong festivities. All in all this was a busy but educational weekend.