I just returned from a weekend trip for one of my classes. The goal of the class is to discuss various worship styles, and open conversation about what is out there as far as different worship opportunities. The title of the class is "Renewing Worship: Beyond traditional and contemporary," and it focuses on how worship doesn't have to be either/or, but can be a combination of the two or something completely different.
So, for an experiential portion of the class, we took a field trip up north to the twin cities. On my way/while there, I tried to get a hold of my friends who would be in the area, to see if they wanted to hang out or meet up or something. Unfortunately, they were all busy or I was unable to get a hold of them. That was unfortunate. We stayed overnight at Luther Seminary while we were there.
Our first worship experience was at Wooddale Church. I believe it was nominally Baptist, or had been at one time, or perhaps still is and just did not include it in the name. It was very much what I think of when I hear the word "contemporary." There was a praise band and the music leaned towards the "Jesus and me" or "Jesus is my boyfriend" variety, and was projected onto screens in the front of the church. The pastor (one of four, two of which were "executive pastors," one was "lead pastor," and the fourth was "senior pastor,") got up and preached a sermon about several different disciplines. The one I remember, at this point in time, was the discipline of celebration. His sermon wasn't very grounded in Scripture, although he did bounce around all over the Bible to pick and choose verses that proved his point. The presentation of this service was very polished. The music was performed well, and things went smoothly. The church was HUGE, and had an amazingly huge youth ministry wing. Although one downside (besides the theology and the proof texting which I wasn't a big fan of, and the cheesy lyrics of a lot of the songs) was that the entire time we were there, and wandering around, not one person came up to us to welcome us or greet us. And it wasn't like we were walking around like we knew where we were going, either.
Our second worship experience was at Saint Joan of Arc, a Catholic parish. This was a completely different experience. Saint Joan of Arc's "motto" is "For wherever you are on the journey," and they seemed very welcoming of a wide variety of people. They had a very obvious and very strong peace and justice bent, and they started the service with a guest speaker from some organization that deals with peace and justice issues in the Cities. We sang a few social justice songs, and took communion (they had an open table policy, which I'm not sure is the case in a lot of Catholic churches). I heard that they were pretty tame at the service we attended, and that at times the priest will say things like, "The pope says that they won't ordain women!" And that will be greeted by a chorus of boos from the congregation. In fact, the priest really didn't do much speaking at this service, other than to lead the liturgy. The portion of proclamation at this service was very short. Maybe five minutes, or less.
Our third stop was Mount Olive Lutheran Church, and ELCA congregation. This was a very liturgical, high church, and as this Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday they pulled out all the stops with incense and a bell tree and a Gospel procession. I appreciated the opportunity to experience this high church expression of Lutheran liturgy as it is not something I experience a lot. I can, from time to time, appreciate the bowing and chanting and all that comes with it. Although, I do think there is a fine line between a decent amount of incense and WAY too much and if I had to choose, I would say that this congregation erred on the side of too much. But this congregation was VERY welcoming, I was greeted by at least three people, and the pastor recognized me from when he was "minister in residence" here at the mothership roughly three years ago. This congregation is also a Reconciling in Christ congregation, which means that they extend a welcome to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their families.
The fourth and final stop of our worship extravaganza was at Solomon's Porch, an "emerging" church. Before the service we were able to sit and chat with the pastor who told us his reasons behind planting the congregation, and what they were hoping and planning to do and become. Then we went back into the Great Room which is where they worship (they do gather in an old church building, and they have named all of the rooms after rooms that can be found in some houses. The old sanctuary is the Great Room, and the room off to the side of the Great Room is called the Family Room, for example) and we mostly spread out. A friend and I were trying to find somewhere to sit in the midst of all of the old couches and chairs that filled the room, when I turned and saw a man sitting on a couch with a copy of Lamb, by Christopher Moore. I asked him if he was reading it, and he said yes, and then the three of us proceeded to have a conversation about it. We ended up sitting by him for the worship, which was cool. He was a trucker that drives a route between Missouri and the Cities, and when he is in the Cities he likes to worship at Solomon's Porch. This worship was very casual and laid back. The band led the congregation in some original music, there was a psalm, the pastor engaged the group in an interactive sermon, although he bit off more than he could chew in the alotted time, I believe. He tried to tackle the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. In one sermon. Wow. But he did a good job of covering some basics, and it sounded like they might be going more in depth in future weeks. Then we did communion, where we all kind of said the words of institution together and there was bread and grape juice in various places throughout the room and we were invited to commune each other. It was very much a party atmosphere, which I really thought was cool. After this service, I was standing and chatting with a few fellow seminarians, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a young woman standing next to me who asked, "Do you have ties to Nebraska?" "Yes..." I replied. "Did you work at a church camp there?" "Yes, I did." "You were my counselor!" What are the odds? I am in the Cities for one random weekend and we stop to worship at Solomon's Porch. She is in town visiting from Nebraska for one weekend and just happens to be at Solomon's Porch. We just happen to be at the same place and the same time. She also happens to be a nurse which means she graduated high school and went to college, or at least nursing school, which makes me feel old. But it was really fun. She and some friends were experiencing different "emerging" churches, in hopes of starting something similar in Omaha, Nebraska to reach out to people whose needs are not being met. She said she must have remembered me because she has a picture of me, or something. I wanted to correct her and say that she must have remembered me because her experience with me at camp OBVIOUSLY was very deep and relevant to her faith life...
I talked with a friend today, as we were walking down the street, and had some deep theological reflections on the experiences of this weekend. However, I just got back from spending many hours in a van, and am tired, and so I will reserve any deep insights for a time when my mental faculties are more capable, and also when I am not falling asleep at the keyboard.
Shalom!
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