we do beauty for our god-who-is-beautiful.

Our cross is made from a fence somebody took down, some metal brackets, some fishing line. On Easter we fill it with flowers.

We try every single Sunday in worship to create beautiful art and make beautiful noise and set a beautiful table. God appreciates beauty — just look around! And made in God’s image as we are, we really can't help but make more of what God enjoys.

Worship at Galileo (5 pm CDT on Sundays, every Sunday) is dimly lit, with candle flame and twinkly lights and grandma’s lamps, so we can settle down and simply be. No flickering fluorescents.

And worship tastes delicious, with bread and cup offered in memory of Jesus every week. He ate all the time, with everybody, and asked us to remember him this way. So we do. All, absolutely all, are welcome at that table. It’s not really ours, you know? Call it the eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper, or communion — as long as you understand that you’re invited.

It’s energized with music, acoustic and lively, or acoustic and quiet, whichever works best in the moment. The musicians are careful not to overpower our voices while we sing to the One who made us and knows us and loves us best of all.

Even our livestream is beautiful. With intentional “backdrops” to the preaching and worshipping moments, as well as plenty of whole-space shots to give you a sense of the room, song lyrics in the lower-third of the screen so you can still see our worship architect and her guitar, we do our best to translate our Big Red Barn experience right to your living room. Check out our livestream here! Every Sunday of the world.

She’s the preacher. Duct tape off for preaching.

We mean to bring our whole selves to worship (even distant worship), so we don’t sit still very long. We pray with our hearts and with our bodies – simple postures to help us engage. We invite everyone, absolutely everyone, to serve and take communion right from where you are if you’re worshipping from home. It’s not a VR experience. Your body matters!

We read the Bible, even (and especially) the parts we don’t like. (E.g. “Love your enemies.” Seriously?) The Rev. Dr. preaches, but it’s not what you think. More questions than answers; more honest talk than you’re used to, probably. We laugh a lot; we cry when the time is right.

There’s always time in the liturgy to reflect on what you’ve heard and sung and prayed. Usually the reflection is guided — write something, draw something, make something, break something. You’ll have to get up to do it, whatever it is. Online, we have a reflection question that you can engage with your friends in the chat and/or answer later on our Facebook group.

There’s a wall where you can leave your written prayers, and where you can pray for everybody else’s written prayers. Pillows for kneeling. We’ll wait for you to finish. Also a virtual prayer wall, where you can post prayers and read the prayers of others (or submit a private prayer request, just for our Spiritual Care Team to pray over).

We make generosity easy with a Paypal swiper to receive financial gifts, an active Venmo account, and links for everything everywhere. Lots of people share in their Venmo comment why they’re giving, or a quote from the service, or occasionally a good ol’-fashioned Rick-Roll. When the basket goes by, and a couple of kids put in their quarters and a couple of old(er) people put in actual paper checks, you can put in a card that says, “I gave electronically.” Or a card that says, “I gave my heart and prayers to Galileo Church this week.” Or “I gave to the world in amazing ways you haven’t thought of yet.” Everybody has something to give. Everybody.

Kids are welcome. Babies are welcome. Toddlers are welcome. Even the tired ones, the runny-nosed ones, the squirmy ones. Bring ’em on. We have marker boards and markers for kids who like to draw and write and play hangman during worship, and a “toddler corral” for the ones who are mobile and not ready to sit through the whole thing.

You wear what you want. You take some responsibility for making sure you’re really there. You decide, if it’s not working for you, not drawing your heart near to the heart of God, to do something else. Go outside for a minute. Get a cup of coffee in the back. Take your shoes off. Offer to hold a baby not your own. Do something — the time is valuable, and God wants you near, and this is our whole purpose in life — to glorify God and enjoy God forever. Let’s get after it.

MAYBE ALL IS NOT LOST

One time we made a record with worship songs that grew out of our life together. Those songs are still important to us, and you can listen to them on Spotify.

THE BIG RED BARN ART GALLERY

In support of that missional priority, Galileo Church supports visual artists who need no-cost space to display their creations. We are learning how to exhibit art that best aligns with our missional priorities. To help us in this process, we ask that potential exhibitors complete this application.

Applications will be reviewed by our Missional Logistics Team at our regular monthly meeting, and a decision will be communicated as soon as we’ve got one.

Here are the websites of couple of the artists we have featured in the Big Red Barn:

Would you like ot be featured in The Big Red Barn Art Gallery? Check out the application below for consideration.