What I learned

Yesterday we held a joint service with our Methodist brothers & sisters from across the street. This was the second such service we've participated in, the first being at their place a year or two ago. According to the TEC/UMC agreement, the liturgy follows the host parish's rubrics while the visiting clergy preaches (there's a little more to it than that, but that'll do for now). And in our case, fellowship/coffee hour is hosted by the other congregation -- being across the street from each other helps in that regard.

We have a small building, but I managed to figure out how to get 98 people in there. We didn't have that many, but we did have very few places left to sit. As a side note here, I was told they had a choir of ten, so my seating arrangements were based on that. Imagine my surprise when I saw 16 of them marching down the street.

So, what did I learn from hosting a combined TEC/UMC service?

1. Scrap the music you had originally planned for and go with hymns that are common to both traditions and easily singable. While your congregation may do okay with the stuff you had previously chosen, getting a bunch of people in your building unfamiliar with the music is less than ideal.

2. Use your own organist. As you all know, we don't have an organist. We use Ms. Emily. Their organist is certainly capable, but there was a sense of newness there and she ran at an unfamiliar tempo for us. That, and, well . . . after not using our organ for four or five years, I had forgotten just how sucky it really sounds. So, use what you're familiar with in your own place.

3. When doing a joint service with the Methodists, and when using real bread for communion, it never hurts to remind people multiple times not to intinct their bread. Because, let's face it, no matter how good the bread you use, nobody likes floaties in the chalice.

All in all, though, it was a good day. And the adult Easter egg hunt is always a big hit.