All year I've been aware of a student organized informal worship thing going on -- because they had a few posters up around campus.
But, since they've been meeting at 9:45pm and in a building that requires a key after 7pm (it's partially devoted to student housing) I just haven't gotten to it. Most Mondays I've decided to head to my place long before then.

Well, I got there last night, and it was good.
Very informal, as I expected, and that was just refreshing. Just three students with accoustic guitars, using an overhead projector for song lyrics. They had a few candles around the room for atmosphere, and I'm a fan of darkness/candlelight for worship and reflection so that was cool. No chairs, we just sat around on the floor, and the group numbered around 10 or 12.

The student who organizes the service gave out scripture references as we arrived and had us each read aloud during the service. We all had a psalm which was followed by a song based on the same psalm. Many of our popular choruses, camp songs, etc are based on psalms, people don't always realize this. And of course we shared prayer as well.

Anyway, it really was refreshing for me. I've already posted about joining the seminary choir, but informal (call it campfire?) singing is a different thing, and the setting, the psalms, the size of the group, made it calming and intimate. So I'll be going back to that again -- even if I'm the 'old man' in the group.

Now, I'm about to start organizing something similar, not on campus but at the congregation I've been worshipping with and which has recently hired me for some part-time service. Sunday nights I'll be creating a contemplative (prayer) service for/with them. We're looking for it to be a nice contrast with the energy/excitement present in their Saturday night and Sunday morning worship services.

Coming away from this student led service on campus, I'm even more eager for this Sunday night worship time. I won't be preparing a sermon but I will be digging through resources and implementing some creativity to arrive at something that fits with what we've imagined and meets the needs of some folks. I'll post later about how it goes.