I went to church last night so I could attend a different church this morning. I'm supposed to sing at this different church next weekend. I sang with this church throughout the fall a couple of years ago, starting with the rehearsals for their Christmas program until the program was performed and then I was done. It gave me a good look at the place.
The place itself is nice. It is modern (I like that) with clean lines and open spaces. The choir (of which I was a part) sits off to one side while the majority of the congregation sits in the "audience" area. The Director of Music had only been there two weeks by the time I first arrived, so he was quite confused when I suddenly was gone at the end of December. He is an excellent pianist and organist. The most important part of the music here is that it is traditional. That is getting more and more rare these days.
The senior pastor is a man who looks like one of my old bosses. He has some of the same mannerisms, too. This man, however, is a very controlling guy. He is nice and has a charismatic personality.
I got involved with this church a couple of years ago when two friends from Chorale asked me if I wanted to sing with the choir for Christmas. I love to sing Christmas songs and I've noticed that choruses often are able to sing things that aren't typically sung. I mean, more than Jingle Bells and other little ditty songs. My friends told me that this church is very liberal and that they are congregational. That is an odd description, to me. Anyway, after listening to this pastor speak for a couple of months, I have concluded that they have no theology. I honestly don't know why they gather.
The service starts off with a nice prelude played on the organ or the piano. They have a welcome and announcement monologue. There is a song while the candles are lighted. Then, they have a written prayer that everyone reads in unison, ending with the Lord's Prayer. They specify that we are to say "trespasses" instead of "sins" and I guess that is very helpful. The pastor opens the floor up to anyone's prayers and praises. During this time today, they announced that there would be a special time on a certain Sunday evening in August. They will be having a demonstration and time for reflection using Tibetan Singing Bowls.
Next, is the Time of Centering. During this time, the pastor reads a story or poem (NEVER does it come from the Bible) and then offers to let everyone close their eyes to meditate on it. After that, they have two readings. At least one is from the "Hebrew Bible" which is what they call the Old Testament. The second reading today was from the Hebrew Bible, as well.
The pastor then delivers his sermon. It is sometimes a story or sometimes it starts with a Bible story. Today, it was about Guardian Angels and came from the text in Genesis 28 about Jacob's Ladder. I've heard numerous sermons about Jacob's Ladder before, but this one was unique. In it, somehow, the pastor came around to explaining about God's love. He said that their denomination was different. "The reason we are different is because we are worthy of God's love." I was watching for fire from above or something similar. None came, probably because God already knew what was going on there. I believe he was probably making reference to the fact that this denomination claims that they accept people from all walks of life, all religions are free to worship there with them and everyone is allowed to believe whatever they choose.
This denomination has gone gender-neutral, which has really caused some inconveniences. They had a couple of baptisms today and I was surprised to hear them baptized in the name of "the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, Creator of the Universe and Mother of Us All." That's the only time I've heard "father" and "son" used. Usually, the trinity is referred to as "Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost." I'll admit, the changes make me listen more intently, because I don't hear the usual phrases. It has wreaked havoc with the hymnals. They are ALL gender-neutral, so the older folks are singing their old familiar songs, knowing that "man" refers to "human" and willing to call God their "Father," while those who are reading the hymns are tripping over odd phrasing and convoluted rhyme that just doesn't often make much sense. I tried to sing those with an open mind, after all, I can remember as a young girl wondering why God seemed only concerned with "men" in all the songs.
Okay, after the very PC sermon, there is an offering and then the Doxology and another hymn and the pastor gives a benediction. It is all ended with a glorious postlude played on the organ. I REALLY enjoy listening to an organ that is well-played!
I have enjoyed getting to know this church. We have had to change churches at times for one reason or another and each move has caused me to reexamine what I believe and why I believe it. I sat next to a woman on the plane last week who went to a church that I know a lot about and she told me that her denomination was right because they did one thing that mine doesn't do. I told her that was fine. She then told me that Jesus told his disciples to do this thing at a certain interval. I turned to her and told her that I have searched through the Bible and have never found that to be true. She said, well, the Bible says that the Early Christians did that. No, I told her, that is not in the Bible. I really hope she went home and searched for herself. I am appalled at people who are supposedly well-versed telling others the wrong stuff.
This pastor today said that Jacob was the first Biblical character who set out to go away from someplace with no knowledge of where he was going. How could he miss Abraham, or Noah's sons, or even Adam and Eve when they were sent out of the Garden of Eden? He also described Jesus' baptism as "John pouring water over Jesus' head." It made me thing that he, like so many others, just teach to shock people. I wish he'd get his facts straight and teach. There were people there who needed him to tell the truth about the Bible. I guess I sound old-fashioned. Maybe that's not a bad thing.
