My Visit on Sunday, September 23

Feeling a need to get back to my roots, I attended a Presbyterian Church today. I attended Deep-in-the-Urban-Woods Presbyterian Church. And I'm grateful I did.

Actually a friend in Iowa (of all places) suggested I attend -- he's heard of the church and its good works and wanted me to check it out.

I say "going back to my roots" for two reasons. My denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), was founded by a couple of Presbyterians -- New Light, Anti-Berger, Seceder Presbyterians to be precise. (That was a few years before the Presbyterians largely merged, and how grateful we are to God for THAT merger -- can you imagine how big these church signs would have been?!)

But for a more personal reason, my maternal family roots go back to a Presbyterian Church in the Midwest. I don't think my mom's family was particularly active in the church, but I was curious to see what might have drawn them to the Presbies.

I attended the 9:45 "contemporary" service. Now I must say that I loathe the ubiquitous terms "contemporary" and "traditional" when it comes to using them as descriptors for worship. They seem to work in "churchy settings" as short-hand monikers, but they are hardly creative and they evoke no emotion (except when lobbed out of the foxholes of a congregation at war -- one where members see "contemporary" and "traditional" as battle lines to be defended).

Isn't all worship traditional? It is something that is rooted deep in history -- regardless of the songs that are sung and the scriptures that are read. And isn't all worship contemporary? It is happening today -- using words and symbols of this time and place to communicate theological concepts and invite people into a living relationship that happens now.

*Steps off soapbox*

OK, back to this beautiful experience I found this morning.

Music = exceptional. You may recall that I attend another large congregation a few weeks ago -- August 26, I think. And the music certainly matched the quality of that mega-, mega-church. My only wish was that the congregation had been singing. I think some of them were, maybe in the front -- but I sat about halfway back in the center and the folks near me remained quiet. There may have been some holy humming; but with a great band like that, these folks should feel free to sing their hearts out. I later found out that today's music was lead by a fairly new staff member, but I never would have known -- he was very talented and calm in front of the large crowd.

Equally calm (yet appropriately peppy for an upbeat hour of worship) was the Executive Pastor who opened the worship service. With a faint Kevin Spacey-resemblance, he welcomed us to the church and then did something I've never seen during church "announcement time" before. He introduced a special guest from the denomination, but instead of simply turning over the microphone to the guest speaker for (what is often) a boring 5-minute appeal, the Spacey-esque emcee stayed on stage and led a Larry King-style Q&A with the man. It was an engaging, creative, relevant way to let the guest say what he needed to say and still keep the congregation from zoning out. Why aren't more church announcements done like this!?

The sermon was what I expected it to be at this church: outstanding! I've known about the preacher's creativity and "relate-ability" (is that a word?!) for a while and was delighted to finally hear him. He was funny, real and self-effacing (particularly when his brain went blank and he admitted to needing his "cheat sheet" tucked safely inside the back cover of this bible).

Finally, a note about congregation's obvious commitment to community and global outreach. They had banners hanging on either side of the chancel with impressive statistics about the church's investments in both local and international social concerns. They take it seriously and it shows. In most church newsletters, there are lots of opportunities listed to volunteer at the church. In this church's newsletter, those church volunteer jobs are listed, but I noticed even more opportunities to volunteer in the community -- school tutoring, cooking meals, renovating homes, reading to kids. This is clearly a church that sees itself as existing not for itself. And that's a tough thing for many churches to remember.