wfn.org | Online resource offers guide for millennial worship, study

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Nov. 2, 2000 News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Church is making available
an updated resource to help congregations observe the new millennium through
prayer, worship and Bible study.

The resource, called "Standing at the Door," is offered free of charge by
the United Methodist Board of Discipleship on its Web site at
www.gbod.org/worship/articles/standing_door/.

"It's a compilation of both worship resources and group studies," said the
Rev. Roger C. Dowdy of Richmond, Va., who edited and compiled the online
book.

The first edition of "Standing at the Door" was introduced last year in both
print and online form, as a resource for observing and celebrating the
change from 1999 to 2000. The Board of Discipleship asked Dowdy to revise it
for the change of year from 2000 to 2001, which many people regard as the
real turn of the millennium.

The online book provides worship resources for Advent leading to Christmas
Eve, Christmas, Epiphany and the baptism of Jesus, and the New Year. The
resource has been revised to fit the lectionary lessons for this year, and
to include millennial themes such as jubilee, which embraces the forgiveness
of debt and other peace with justice issues.

About a third of the book contains reflection and study materials, Dowdy
said. The book begins with eight perspectives, or short articles, written by
people throughout the connection addressing the new millennium and aspects
of worship, he said.

The book ends with two Bible studies, one based on Revelation and the other
- new with this edition - based on jubilee themes. 

Revelation was included because "it's a millennial biblical narrative in its
own way," Dowdy said. "Standing at the Door" gives "a more wholesome
viewpoint of Revelation, that Revelation is primarily a book of hope and not
primarily gloom and doom," he said. 

The jubilee segment is a five-session study into a lifestyle centered on
sabbath rest, justice, forgiveness, liberation, restoration and celebration.
In addition, "Standing at the Door" includes a seven-day prayer and worship
guide for a suggested jubilee week.

The book also serves as a ready resource for United Methodist churches that
have not been in the habit of holding New Year's worship services. It
provides liturgies for a weeklong series of worship celebrations entitled
"Seven Days of Praise and Prayer," built on the theme of Christ as the
spiritual servant leader in the new millennium.

The idea for the book originated with the Board of Discipleship's Section of
Worship, Dowdy said. Staff wanted to provide a resource for worship planners
and clergy members looking for ways to celebrate the millennium change.

Before the book, the United Methodist Church wasn't offering much in worship
resources for the millennial change and jubilee, Dowdy said. Other
Protestant denominations were looking to the Catholic Church for jubilee
resources, since the Catholics have made the largest effort in that area.
"Standing at the Door" was written from an ecumenical perspective, so people
from other denominations who log on to the Web site can use it, he said.

The first edition was well received, Dowdy said. "Everywhere I traveled,
most worship leaders and pastors that I talked to thought the nature of the
resources and the flexibility were exactly what they were looking for." 
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United Methodist News Service
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