We gather together

Pipe organ, piano, electric keyboard, handbells, and a drum set! This past Sunday those attending the 11:00 am service at 700 Ethel Ave worshipped and praised our Lord accompanied by various combinations of these instruments. Members of St. Luke A.M.E. Zion Church and Calvin Church were gathered together in what has now become an annual tradition—a combined worship service.

St. Luke and Calvin first began forging a relationship over two decades ago. If I recall, the impetus came when Pastor Bob Koorneef and Reverend Jonse Young found themselves sitting next to each other at a conference they were attending and struck up a conversation. Over the following years their work yielded a partnership, with members from each church participating in a “Healing Racism” workshop, attending each other’s worship services, and enjoying several meals together in the fellowship hall.

Current pastors—Dwight Gutridge, Rebecca Jordan Heys, and Brad Zwiers—have continued the pattern of partnership, meeting with each other regularly and planning an annual combined service. At each joint worship service a liturgy is quilted together using beautiful pieces of both congregation’s traditions. 

Everyone experiences the combination of familiarity and the freshness of doing things in a different way—an unexpected and unique combination! But also a moving foretaste of heaven, where all tribes and all nations from all times will stand before the throne and the Lamb.

Written by an anonymous Calvin Church member