St David’s Union Church

Location: Andrew Street, Marchwiel, Timaru
Denomination: Union: Presbyterian & Methodist
Website: There is no website, but for the thrust of the Church Union movement see the site of Andrew Smith hobbit.griffler.co.nz
Church Services: 9:30 am Sunday
Groups: Women’s Fellowship

My own visit

Date: 27 February 2005

Service: 9:30 am Sunday service

The building: Trees line the streets of the state-house suburb of Marchwiel. At an intersection, rising high above the streets is the L-shaped complex of St. David’s Union church. Simple red brick walls with windows under the roof and grey metal sheets in some places give it a very utilitarian look. One wing is now a pre-school, the other forms the church.

The décor: Inside the church looks like so many school or church halls from the 1950s. The altar is against one side so that the congregation sits around it in a large semi-circle. A heavy blue curtain with a big brass cross forms the backdrop to the altar. To one side of the cross a banner proclaims: “How precious, God, is your constant love”. Wooden panels line the walls. The windows are just under the roof and covered with light curtains that filter the light into the room, though the windows at the far end do come lower. White tiles with holes along the ceiling provide a balanced acoustic. Two fans suspended from the central beam continuously forced the air downwards.

Banners depicting the life of David decorated the windowless end of the hall.

Smiling face at the door: I was a bit late that morning and therefore had to get the hymnbook and newsletter myself, while singing drifted from the adjacent hall. But when I sneaked into the church, I got a nodded welcome and received one more songbook from my neighbour.

Start of service: After the initial hymns, there was a reflective prayer.

Congregation (approx) 0-12: 3; 13-20: 0; 20-40: 2; 40-60: 3; 60+: 21

Liturgy: To the Bible readings the congregation responded with “Thanks be to God”.

Music: It seems the congregation is quite keen on singing good old favourite hymns. The With One Voice hymnbook is supplemented by a songbook with newer songs.

Instruments: Electric Piano

Children’s Talk: The Samaritan woman questioned Jesus because he was from a different group, but Jesus forgave her. Are there people you don’t like? Could you draw somebody you don’t like. And through the weak think something good about them.

Sermon:
-Length: 13 minutes
-Method: Very much an exegetical sermon focusing on the text, but drawing out implications for today. The thoughts were presented in quick succession, but were usually picked up again later in the sermon. It obviously was well prepared and though most of it seemed to be read the preacher sounded confident and was easy to listen to.
-Bible reading: John 4:5 – 42
-Content: Again water is used as a symbol in the Bible, but we are focusing more on the woman at the well as a person. Jews hated Samaritans. Most of us know what it is to be used and then to be discarded. Many or our encounters are like that. The woman at the well had experienced this. Many preachers have characterized the woman as a promiscuous sinner. But let’s look at her again. In that time males had all the power. It was easy for men to divorce their women. It is likely that this woman has been sinned against by men. She may even have been turned into the village scapegoat. She was bruised and abused.

This lonely woman makes the journey alone to avoid the barbs of others. The heat is preferable to meeting the other women.

Jesus put himself beside people, not above them. The woman is puzzled by the way Jesus is talking to her. Jesus confronts her, but also treated her as an individual. People of all races and lifestyles need Jesus.

Jesus gave her some dignity by asking for some water. He confronted her with what she now was, not dwelling on her past sins. But he also confronts her with the person he himself is. The story concludes with the woman going back and witnessing to the other people in the town. They came to experience an encounter with the Saviour Jesus Christ, where old ways of thinking are cast aside. Jesus stayed two more days to accompany them.

Jesus’ way of confronting this woman would be scorned today, when nobody is really wrong and nobody is really right. We should pray for the people society is rejecting and meet them. Share the good news of Jesus with them! We need to be ready to ask others for help. This church is the well at which we can meet people and share inclusive healing love.

Other Highlights: Prayer of intercession.

Wrap-up: Notices were read. The children came forward and shared what they had drawn during the service. After a final song people said the grace to conclude the service.

After the service: I spoke to several members of the congregation including the “layperson supplied to minister”. Generally I found them very easy to talk to and while the normal polite questions came up, it went a bit beyond that.

Quality of morning tea: An individual tea bag was used for each cup. There was quite a wide selection of biscuits, going well beyond the simple dry varieties.

Reflection: The church is currently in a phase of transition and is led by layperson that came in to help them discern what they might do. Various options are on the table: developing lay ministry from within the congregation, employing a part-time minister, combining with another congregation or just closing down. Even though it is an elderly congregation, they feel that they have “woken up” and are on the move again.

This seems to be a struggling church that has decided to do something about it. It is important to face reality and consider the options. It certainly can live on for a few more years and its members do contribute to the community and the wider church. The question is whether their wisdom and worship can survive the trendy beat of the modern world. Or has the church as a whole become too much saturated with popular culture to consider the long experience with God which may be expressed in more traditional forms? Yes, churches have to meet the world around them at their level and live the Christian faith in the present, but I hope this is not at the loss of such a richness which church tradition represents.

Being in transition, I somehow did not feel it appropriate to ask the usual questions.