One Sunday about a year ago, Graeme Gilmour announced (tongue-in-cheek) at the 07h00 and 10h30 services that

at the end of the year we would be selling the organ so as to create more space on the platform for a wider variety of musical instruments to be used in leading worship at all services. And of course that meant no more hymns.

Some members of the congregation threatened to leave the church! Why would anyone want to leave a church just because the organ was going? Is an organ essential in order to worship? They didnt use an organ in the Bible, did they? Dont people connect with God better when singing contemporary worship songs? Didnt the psalmist tell people to sing new songs to the Lord? Is this just a generation thing? Or is it actually OK to be different when it comes to how we worship God? This sermon series aims to get us to understand that different people relate to God differently because of who they are. We all have different personalities and we also all have different ways of connecting with God. At all services for the next 3 weeks we will explore nine different spiritual styles. Think of your spiritual style as your divine antenna its the way you pick up Gods signal, like a picture becomes clear on a screen its the way your picture of God becomes clearer. Its your style. Discover which style you most identify with so that you can draw closer to God and also come to appreciate how others draw close to God. So grab your hymn book, your flag, your Bible and realise its OK to be different! These notes and questions are designed to help us discover the pros and cons of each style. Let the conversation begin!

Naturalists
Loving God Out Of Doors
DESCRIPTION
For naturalists, where they worship can have a profound impact on the quality of their worship. The naturalist seeks to leave the formal architecture and the padded pews to enter an entirely new cathedral, a place that God himself has built: the out-ofdoors. For them, the Bible should be read outside; God is best experienced through appreciation of the wonders of his creation; they sense that they are entering into wholeness and communion with God when they are resting by a clear, free-running river or sitting on a sunny slope surrounded by blossoms or confronted with majestic mountains. The words of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning sum up their feelings:
And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries, And daub their natural faces unaware.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES for naturists

1. Take your Bible outside and read it; meditate while feasting your eyes and spirit on natural beauty 2. Worship as the dawn breaks 3. Go for a walk and speak to God along the way

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Where and when do you feel closest to God? 2. How is worship different for you when you are inside listening to speakers, etc. and outside enjoying nature? 3 What could you do (where could you go) that would help you worship more deeply on a regular basis? 4. How do you balance the need for natural beauty and quiet with the command to be in community? What kinds of community activities are satisfying to you spiritually and emotionally?

Sensates
Loving God With the Senses
DESCRIPTION
For these Christians their five senses are Gods most effective inroad to their hearts. Sensates want to be lost in the awe, beauty, and splendour of God. They are drawn particularly to the liturgical, the majestic, the grand. When these Christians worship, they want to be filled with sights, sounds, and smells that overwhelm them and enable them to sense that they are in the presence of God, so the smell of incense, the sight of intricate architecture, the sound of classical music, and the use of formal language send their hearts soaring. They identify with the fact that Biblical accounts of the glory of God in the heavens are elaborate affairs, and rarely quiet.

CAUTIONS
A sensate should be discerning when listening to beautiful music, looking at beautiful art, participating in sensually fulfilling worship. Not all that is beautiful is of God. They should not deprive themselves of corporate worship just because the building or music or form of the service isnt beautiful to them.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Listen to worship-promoting music 2. Absorb worship-inducing art 3. Sing scripture 4. Create a worship space for yourself: light a candle, set out meaningful articles, e.g., a cross. 5. Enter into a scripture passage. Be one of the characters. Experience the passage. 6. Vary prayer posture: stand, sit, kneel, lie prostrate

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. How do you feel when you are worshipping in a plain, unadorned church? How does it affect your ability to focus on God? 2. Have you been in a service that incorporated incense, an orchestra or pipe organ, ritual dance, processions with banners or crosses, flag waving or other activity involving the senses? How is your worship experience enhanced or hindered by these sensory additions to the worship service? 3. Have you yourself participated in dance or some other physical expression during a worship service? How did it affect your whole worship experience? 4. How does having something to touch, smell, look at or listen to affect your personal worship time? 5. How do you react to the statement, we must take care that our worship of God doesnt become worship of the worship experience alone?

Traditionalists
Loving God Through Ritual and Symbol
DESCRIPTION
Traditionalists are fed by what are often termed the historic dimensions of faith: rituals, symbols, sacraments, and sacrifice. These Christians tend to have a disciplined or ordered life of faith. (Some may be seen by others as legalists, defining their faith largely by matters of conduct.)Traditionalists have a need for ritual and structure. They struggle with new things the use of songs rather than hymns, guitars rather than organ music, extemporaneous prayer and worship rather than liturgy etc. For them rituals provide structure for their faith.

CAUTIONS
Traditionalists are in danger of letting the form of worship become an idol, which may indicate that they have a form of faith that has no substance. If any other way to worship seems wrong to them, they should explore just why this is. .. However, in the context of a true faith, religious practices and rituals can be a powerful force for good a friend, not an enemy, of a rich and growing relationship with God.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Read Scripture aloud. 2. Select a Psalm to say every morning and one for each evening; Practice liturgical prayer (use Book of Common Prayer, Methodist Orders of Service, or similar books) 3. Set a regular time and place to meet with the Lord each day. 4. Make plentiful use of symbols or ritualized gestures in that time. 5. Follow the Church calendar and celebrate significant days, e.g. Pentecost, Advent. 6. Develop meaningful rituals, e.g. attend communion service every week.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. In what ways did men and women in the Bible and in church history use ritual to embody spiritual truth? 2. What rituals, symbols, etc. would you like to incorporate into your life? How do you think they would affect your personal worship time? What would you like them to do for you? 3. What rituals are necessary for you to be able to worship easily? 4. What happens to your ability to worship when you are fellowshipping in a church of a denomination that has little formal liturgy?