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.
4 comments:
very interesting post. thanks for taking the time to write. i'm intrigued by a few things. the idea that this church had no theology and wondering why they met? i've visited churches that sound very familiar....unity/universalist/ucc. they definitely do not conform to the american protestant church in terms of structure and content. but their meetings are very often times centered around love and compassion and community. things central to the ideas shared by jesus. why do you think they meet?
in my opinion, i would think that their terms like "hebrew bible" and gender neutral references seem to be ways of moving past an ancient understanding of the world denoted in the "old testament". a world in which women were possession (deut 21) and birthing vessels and the jewish war god commanded his people to kill children (num 31) and many other atrocious things rooted in bronze age superstitions. these ancient writings of a nomadic people are their way of trying to understand the unknown. their hand pointing toward god...and out of those struggles and years in captivity...we see some very beautiful writings about love. it's all so fascinating.
i would love to hear more of your thoughts on your comment: "There were people there who needed him to tell the truth about the Bible." is this comment about getting facts straight? what, in your opinion, is the "truth about the bible"?
thanks again for sharing!
I was hoping I would hear from you, jon. You always have a unique perspective.
This pastor is a gifted speaker and writer. He may have studied a liberal theology in seminary, but he doesn't even bring that to the pulpit. He is very proud of his skilled phrasings and the fact that he has scoured his bookshelves to enlighten his congregation with an obscure story. He is a name-dropper. He was quite pleased to tell us about his childhood in Little Italy in NYC and the Hasidic Jews in his old neighborhood. But when he started relating the stories from the Bible, he crafted some twists and turns in the stories, much as a Hollywood writer might. He will not be caught in his errors, however, because I was the only person in the building who had a Bible.
This music director has three masters degreesin Music as well as Theology--two from Yale Divinity--and has worked in churches and in the secular world, but he's not good enough for this pastor. He is either too "orthodox" or too "unorthodox," according to the pastor. When I was informed of this personality conflict, my first question was, "but doesn't this church claim to allow each person to worship in whatever way they choose?"
We can't do much to correct the customs and practices during the time of Moses. Or Herod. Or Nero or Hitler. What would be the purpose? Don't we have our own injustices to work on?
I read the book "JOSHUA" by Girzone over ten years ago and it completely changed my viewpoint of organized religion. My view of what is acceptable for me (as far as churches or religious practices) has changed. I still, however, believe in God. I simply know that every human being tends to mess things up, including religion.
Several years ago, I decided to read and study as much theology as I could. I learned a bit, but it didn't make my day-to-day life any easier. I was still lacking the experience and wisdom that I needed (and still need) to help me sort things out. One constant, though, was that I felt utterly lost without God. The books on theology just seemed to abandon the Bible and head off into one rabbit hole or another. I needed someone to listen to me when no one else would. To understand me when everyone else was tired of me. I had to return to studying the Bible.
I've been studying church history lately and am encouraged by the "remnant" that withstands all the craziness and the politics that cloud organized religion and center once again on genuine scripture. They do it because they have faith. And faith is what saves. I want to be that type of person.
Why do these people meet each week? This church, in my opinion, like so many others, is a social club. Where do they get their love, compassion, and community? I have no idea. Do you?
Sounds like a talented group of individuals with the letters to impress. But I have come to expect that their travails are no different than a small 30 member conservative church is Eastern Kentucky or a super duper mega church in the nearest suburbville. Leadership and power and self-importance and prejudice all coalesce to create a fine mess in most anything. Especially religious institutions. I, too, have hopped the church train and made my way though the various flavors. And it sounds like we've come to a similar conclusion. They all involve people and therefore are doomed to failure. That being said. They all have the power to be beautiful and work wonders in the lives of their membership. This is how it's always been. In every culture. Transcending language and borders. So we continue to love and struggle and move forward and move backward. Finding ourselves right where we started most of the time. But it's the journey that matters. And it seems as if you've had a fine one.
I appreciate your appetite for knowledge. It seems to run though your lineage. I've read a ton of books and i've read the bible over and over and have come to the conclusion that I will never know the answers. I'm not even sure what the real questions are...let alone when the answers would look like. When it comes to religion. All I can say is that it's been around alot longer that I have. It's been a part of almost every culture and every people that have ever walked this earth. So there must be something to it. Does it need to involve a supernatural force or forces with super magical powers who judges and kills and heals? not so sure... But what I am sure of is that religion has great power. And as Uncle Ben said to Spiderman..."with great power comes great responsibility".
The bible has been a great source of hope and a great source of pain for hundreds of years. I think our culture has pulled out alot of the good stuff and left alot of crappy stuff on the cutting room floor. It's a work in progress. Some people are under the assumption that the b-i-b-l-e is a perfect document, hand delivered by god, written through lowly man. i've read the best seller a few times and am well aware of the many revisions and the contradictions and the historical and scientific inaccuracies. None of these things should take away from the incredible nature of the document. but they should carry some weight when we see some very challenging doctrines. like slaves obeying their masters and women being silent and restrictions of gay people. all understandable per the culture they were surrounded by when they were written. but our modern society cannot just blindly accept every line without measuring it. so much more to discuss....
But...these are just my opinions. captured through by biased lens. they are prone to revision.
Be looking in the mail for a good book you to read.
Hi again, Jon,
I have been negligent in letting you know that your book arrived. It arrived during a very crazy time in my home, so I haven't gotten very far into it. It has, so far, challenged my way of thinking and stirred up emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other. I'm sure the second page will be interesting, too.
Not really. I've read more than that, but I am not a fast reader--correction--not a fast "comprehender--so it will take some time before I can let you know what I think.
Didn't want you to wonder if I'd dropped off the face of the planet. School (for me) starts next week and I hope things will slow down some.
Thanks for sharing!
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