From Salvador Dali to Fanny Crosby by way of Luke's crucifixion narrative

We began the alternative worship service at Central Presbyterian Church on Saturday evening by singing three hymns along with an iWORSHIP DVD that was brought in by one of the participants. This DVD was set up so we could display the lyrics along with the slide show that accompanied each hymn.

One of the participants brought in a number of prints of Salvador Dali's "Christ of St. John of the Cross." She said that it was a picture that spoke to her about forgiveness, the theme for the first few weeks of our gathering. We each spent some time looking at the picture, sharing our impressions of what it said to us about forgiveness.

Another participant brought in a yellowed clipping of a newspaper column that spoke about forgiveness. She read the relevant portion of the column to aid us in thinking and discussion of the implications of not forgiving.

We read the crucifixion narrative from Luke 23:26-43 and reflected together on Christ's prayer "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

One of the participants said that the Fanny Crosby hymn "Blessed Assurance" spoke to him about forgiveness. We found some copies of Vesper Chimes and sang "Blessed Assurance" and another hymn. Having begun the service with some high-tech hymn singing, we discovered that we could also do just fine without instrumental accompaniment.

We closed our time together in prayer.

File under : Central Presbyterian Church, Tarentum, worship