Galileo Church

We seek and shelter spiritual refugees, rally health for all who come, and fortify every tender soul with the strength to follow Jesus into a life of world-changing service.

5860 I-20 service road Fort Worth, TX 76119 USA

(682) 760-1274

OUR MISSIONAL PRIORITIES:

1. We do justice for LGBTQ+ humans, and support the people who love them.

2. We do kindness for people with mental illness and in emotional distress, and celebrate neurodiversity.

3. We do beauty for our God-Who-Is-Beautiful.

4. We do real relationship, no bullshit, ever.

5. We do whatever it takes to share this good news with the world God still loves.

Trying to find us IRL?
Mail here: P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060
Worship here: 5 pm CT Sundays; 5860 I-20 service road, Fort Worth 76119

Trying to find our Sunday worship livestream?
click here!

The dangerous work of worship

January 12, 2025 - March 2, 2025

Liturgy comes from leitourgia, an old Greek term that refers to work, or service, performed by the wealthy on behalf of “the people” or the state. It could also refer to the work of the priest on behalf of the people. But it has come to mean, colloquially, that liturgy is “the work of the people,” meaning that the congregation has a stake in worship, a part to play; their engagement is necessary for worship to... “work.” It can, then, feel very internal to the church’s life – something we do in here, with each other, not for public consumption. But what we do in here has radical implications for our way of being out there. In worship, through liturgy, we are telling and recapitulating God’s own story, and our story of with-God-ness, through word and motion and music and connection and ritual. And the church’s story is at odds with other stories the culture is telling. It’s subversive, radical, and even dangerous to tell our story just this way.

Arrive. King David, having recovered the Ark of the Covenant, dances his way home. He is essentially bringing God’s Presence back to Israel, and his enthusiastic showing-up dance is unnerving to some (his wife!) who wish for more decorum, more “demure”, in worship. But it matters how we arrive for worship – do we bring our whole (exposed) selves, or do we hold back? Additionally, there are many “Psalms of Ascent” in Israel’s hymnal, designated for climbing the temple mount in Jerusalem – meaning that our ancestors gave some thought to how we gather for worship. As do we. (parts of worship: video prologue, welcome, query)

Pray. Bowing our head, bending our knee, pledging our allegiance – this is the subversive work of prayer. Corporate prayer in worship is a stay against idolatry. We remember again that our time here is for the re-ordering of our lives: “God is God, and we are not. (And nothing else is God, either.)” The counter-narratives say that our lives depend on capitalism, work, the military, government, our own capacities. Even the simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer says otherwise.