3rd Annual Open Air "Easter on the Street" Celebration!

The day began with a full breakfast service, prepared and served by our young people and teens, anchored by pancakes, waffles, and sausages with coffee and OJ to boot!  It was a bit cloudy and overcast for an Easter with a few slight drizzles here and there to keep us alert.  Nevertheless, as 9:30 rolled around, a well fed and expectant group of worshippers and guests lifted their voice in song as the live band led us in our opening songs of praise and faith!

Afterwards, Stephanie Benson shared her special Easter message (with the help of some very special "easter eggs") and then allowed Bill Faris to interview her about what it was like to belong to a house church - making sure to invite everyone to come and join us any Sunday!

Next came the performance of a very special song, "Praise the Risen Lord" - an original piece written by a grateful neighbor after experiencing a surprising manifestation of God's love.  The inspiration for her song was the sudden appearance of house church and other volunteers who came to help in a massive cleanup effort of her home after horrible mudslides smashed into her family's backyard, filled their swimming pool and damaged both her home and some of the surroundings (see previous "Sermon in the Mud" posts).  

Ryan Lee, our worship leader for the day, did an excellent job in learning her song and then performing it and teaching us to sing along.  How special to be able to feature a new original song born out of ministry that took place a few hundred feet from where we were standing as we sang "praise to the Risen Lord"!

The Mills (Paul and Michelle) of our Without Walls house church group shared their testimony of changed life as they related to the assembled crowd how God had called them to follow Him and how their faith has grown more than ever in recent times as they have been "forced to own" their spiritual development as members of a house church.  It was clear from what they shared that they are just beginning to touch on the things God has prepared for them to do, be and share with others at this most vital time of their lives thus far.



Bill Faris brought a message of hope from the Scriptures with a focus on the surprising love and power of God (peppered with a call and response of "Surprise!", shared between speaker and audience!).  The message ended with a focus on three things that are characteristic of what happens when God surprises us with His presence as He breaks in to our lives in surprising way:

* Your future is no longer just a logical extension of your past!
* When God breaks in, new life breaks out!
* Death no longer gets the "last word" in our lives.  God does!

As the message and the closing worship dissipated into the somewhat chilly air, we knew we had been with the Lord and that He, the Risen King, had come to meet with us in a (beautiful) everyday place just as He did in days of old!  Surprise!!!

Easter 2011 was a Great Celebration!  Hope to see YOU here next year!  

See us at www.vineyardathome.com

A Sublime Celebration

The tones of a skillfully played piano began to swell as the singing voices blended and filled the room with the sound of a familiar carol.  Hardwood floors bounced the waves of sound up the tall walls which sent them unhindered to the second story ceiling.  This sonic phenomenon made it seem as if there were more voices in the room than there actually were.  It also hid any flaws in our singing so that we sounded much better than normal as when one sings in the shower.

The beautifully lit Christmas tree was just a few feet from where I sat.  I glanced at it, and then scanned the room as I listened to the voices and added my own.  Suddenly, I felt as if I had been transported far away from the Orange County suburbs to an intimate country chapel in the woods.  The sheer warmth and simplicity of the moment filled me full.  I realized there was no cathedral in which I would rather be and no trained choral group I would rather hear.  It was a perfect Christmas moment - simple, beautiful, human and divine all at once.

The elements of communion were produced and I gave a talk about the Exodus.  God's deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt is the defining story of their history and the root of their identity.  I put us in remembrance of the fact that first "Lord's Supper" was the Passover meal which Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before He was betrayed by one of them.  As He took the traditional bread and cup of the Passover, He redefined their meanings within Himself.  He is the new Lamb.  He is the New Exodus.  He is the New Defining Story of the people of God - the One who saves us from bondage and frees us to belong to God - and all because of the First Christmas that brought Him to us as Emmanuel, "God with us".

As we partook of the elements, the piano softly played a carol - yes, a carol and not a typical hymn.  We finished the communion singing along with it and then moved into two contemporary worship songs including one that features the words: "This is the air I breathe - Your holy presence, living in me".  How beautifully this fit the Christmas Eve theme: Christ conceived within the virgin.  Christ born in to the world.  Christ now in us "the hope of glory" (as the Scriptures proclaim).

I then shared a meditation on the life of God - eternal life - and how it intersects our natural lives in Christ.  How the First Christmas was the gateway through which God's own kind of life became available to us through Jesus.  It was an invitation.  It was a celebration.  It was a meditation that drew our hearts back to the Manger and then forward into eternity.

Finally, little Stephanie walked around the room with a basket of candles until everyone had one to hold.  Lights were dimmed.  Now, only the pinpoint lights of the Christmas tree illuminated the room as the pianist led us into "Silent Night".   The candles were lit one by one as the flame was shared person-to-person.  It was Christmas.  It was Holy.  It was stripped down to its sweet and simple core.  "God with us" -- such a sublime celebration.  This was my house church Christmas.

- Bill Faris