Worship at Cambridge Presbyterian Church

***Disclaimer: I have to be completely honest and say that I am glad that all I did to prepare for this Sunday morning worship was to just show up.  I didn't google them or dig deep into CPC before attending. After worshiping there, and now having googled them, I think my worship would have been quite biased.***

First things first - this space is actually not CPC's "home".  This is All Saints Church, a church which can trace it's history back to being a medieval church (the 11th century!), while the actual building is from the late 1800's.  It has been without a congregation since the 1970's and a neighboring theological college, Westcott House, kind of takes care of it now, and uses it regularly.  

As does Cambridge Presbyterian Church, on Sunday mornings. 

So, with that being said, the space is GORGEOUS.  And ORNATE.  And BEAUTIFUL.  And COLORFUL.  And WARM (despite lots of stone!)

  And did I mention, GORGEOUS.

  Part of my problem staying focused during worship might have been my distractions in the space.  I just wanted to walk around and take pictures and read everything written in and around the space. 

The photo above was what was to the right of me while I was sitting in worship.  Right above the words begins the ceiling...

...which was done quite beautifully. 

Sorry this is so blurry, but these are placards from the church's long history.

All Saints is a beautiful space to worship in. 

After noticing the space, the second thing I noticed was the noise - and by noise, I mean children.  There were enough kids to have a full on American football game, with infants ready for the special teams. 

(Horrible analogy, I know.)

But seriously - so many kids - with their parents - ready for an hour and a half of worship.  

I love seeing families worship together.  

I had fun watching the family in the pew in front of me.  The girl (4?) seemed prone to immediate displeasure if something wasn't going her way (her mother was amazing at having things at the ready for her!) and her brother (6?) did a fine job tracing dinosaurs and reading the hymns.  I know, a bit creeper like for me to observe the family in front of me in such a fashion, but it was so great!  For their age, the length and timing of the service, these kids were AWESOME in worship!  

(I'm having a hard time imagining how my parents managed all of us in one pew...)

So, why am I glad I didn't know as much about the church until after?  

First of all, worship was good.  I enjoyed the songs and the prayers. 

And boy, did we pray.  The prayer of intercession was one of the loveliest prayers I've heard in a long time. (It could have been the Scottish Irish accent.  But really, it was so thoughtfully worded.)  

The Children's time really spoke to what this congregation looks like; as the kids came up, the minister greeted them by name, and also their heritage.  He welcomed the Irish, the Scottish, the Scandinavian, the Cameroonian, the "African Queens", the English - and more.  He basically gave a mini-sermon for the kiddos on the scripture (Ruth 1) and what I loved the most, is that he thanked the kids for being such good listeners before they returned to their pews to sit with the families.  Regardless of how the kids were during the service, they knew their time up front with the minister was special, and just for them.  

   

About halfway through the service, before the sermon began, I started thinking about the language being used.  While we had followed a somewhat traditional (meaning PC(USA) for me) order of service, the language reminded me of some other traditions.  

The sermon gave me the word I was looking for: evangelical.*   

Within the first few minutes of Ruth's story, somehow we were onto Paul's story.  And Jesus. 

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE JESUS. 

 AND I LOVE PAUL. 

But I also really love the story of Ruth and Naomi.  

Anyways, I'm not going to spend time critiquing or worrying about the sermon.  It was a good message, just one I had a hard time relating to.  In talking with my friend after the service, I discovered that CPC is part of  EPCEW (Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales).  

(Insert here a snarky comment that I deleted because I didn't want to sound snarky.)

As my friend pointed out, besides some doctrinal things (such as no ordaining of women), it felt familiar. 

It was an enjoyable morning of worship - the singing was simple and powerful. 

The church was FULL of life and it felt good. 

Even in nitpicking the differences, I know I am so blessed to be able to worship at a variety of churches and see God at work.  

All glory to God. 

*I don't mean to be a "hater" on the evangelical tradition.  I think it is a term that means something different to everyone who encounters it.  I'm working through my uncomfortableness with the word and seeking to re-define the word in my own faith life. Someday soon I hope to reclaim it and use it!  Below is the CPC's information about how they see their church.  

From the Cambridge Presbyterian Church's website:

We are an international mix of families, singles and students from a wide variety of countries - the UK, USA, Canada, Holland, South Africa, Nigeria, Malaysia, Zambia, Uganda, Australia. We are a friendly congregation that seeks to make visitors welcome.

Our worship is characterised by reverence: "Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire". It centres on the praise of our triune God in psalms and hymns. The climax of our worship is the preaching of God's Word. We are committed to the systematic exposition of the whole of God's Word: "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching so that the man of God may be perfectly equipped for every good work".

Being a Presbyterian Church, we belong to the Reformed Christian tradition, tracing our biblical and church distinctives back to the sixteenth century Reformation, and beyond that to the infallible authority of the Bible, the Word of God. Our distinctives are shared by all biblical, Reformed Churches in the world: We are an evangelical church, we preach the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a confessional church; our theological standards are the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. We are a connexional church, we are linked in a Presbytery with other like-minded churches. We are a covenantal church, we believe that believers and their children belong, by God's good pleasure, within his covenant of grace. We are a church committed to gospel holiness, living in evangelical obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "If you love me, keep my commandments".