Upwrite

Finally.  Last Sunday, I finally got around to visiting one of the churches I’ve been hoping to visit.  It was an Episcopalian church here in my town.  I also attended my home church that afternoon, which is an Assembly of God affiliate.  To say that they were worlds apart would be an understatement.  I want to reflect on both services.

Episcopal
As I approached the front entrance, there were two older folks sitting on a bench smoking cigarettes.  We exchanged “hellos”.  I entered the lobby, which was rather small but light and airy, and a middle-aged man handed me a program. I don’t know if that’s what they call those things.  Maybe an “order of service” or “bulletin”.  I told him it was my first time there, and he welcomed me.  Then the rector (pastor/reverend) came over and introduced herself.  That’s right.  HER.  We had corresponded via email (which she recalled), but her name could very easily be assumed to be a man’s name. I’ve never attended a church with a woman pastor.  I’m not opposed to women pastors, I’ve just never attended a church pastored by a woman.  Anyway, I found the rector to be a congenial and warm woman.  She had a kind of gentle radiance about her.   She gave me the run-down on how the service would go and welcomed me warmly.  As I entered the sanctuary, I immediately felt the solemnity of the atmosphere.  It was totally silent.  I had read about this online.  It’s traditional for silence to be kept in the sanctuary prior to service, so that people can focus and prepare their hearts.  A lovely idea.  I tried to stave off my nervousness and embrace the opportunity to prepare my heart.  Then service began with a processional.  At this point, the Catholic elements became apparent.  There were 3 youths wearing white robe thingies with white rope tied around their waists, and they carried candles and a cross up to the altar.  There were a variety of other rituals throughout the service. People occasionally would do a slight bow in front of the altar.  Many would do the forehead-chest-shoulder-shoulder cross gesture at different points throughout the service.  I won’t enumerate all the rituals, but there were plenty.  It wasn’t overwhelming though.  All of the songs in the service were hymns accompanied by an organ.  It had been a long time since I attended a church service like that.  The bulletin was extremely helfpul as it guided me through the service, which included prayers by the rector with congregational responses, hymns, corporate confession, corporate affirmation of the Nicene Creed, readings from the OT, Gospels, and Epistles, and a sermon. (But it was definitely not in that order!) For the Gospel reading, the rector stood in the middle of the main aisle and read from a Bible held by one of the young people in a white robe.  The sermon was relatively brief but memorable. It had a kind of monologue feel to it.  She talked about really opening ourselves to listen to Jesus.   And I can’t forget Communion!  The Communion ceremony was nice.  I expected to feel uncomfortable receiving Communion but I didn’t at all.  The service ended with some more singing and a recessional.  Afterwards, there were refreshments and the rector and I chatted for a few minutes, and she was kind enough to introduce me to a few people.  A few people asked how I enjoyed my first Episcopal experience, and they shared with me this axiom: “Kneel to pray. Stand to sing. Sit for instruction.”  Easy enough.

Assembly of God
I arrived at church a little earlier than usual, since I drove straight from the Episcopal church.  I walked into the lobby and sat on a leather couch.  There are all kinds of creative works of photography displayed on the walls in the lobby.  There’s coffee and a little cove that has computers in it.  Very modern, very Generation Y (although my pastor is kind of old school, which is probably good for keeping things balanced).   Prior to service people were gathering and chatting about this and that.  Inside the sanctuary, video announcements were playing on the projector screen.  As I sat and watched the announcements, a woman came and sat in my row.  She immediately leaned over and greeted me and we introduced ourselves.  Service started with some exuberant modern-rock worship.  There was a video interlude right before the sermon that provided a sort of humorous premise for the forthcoming sermon.  Pastor came onto the stage and began his sermon.  It was dynamic and animated as he fully expressed his passion.  Oddly enough, his sermon was about the Holy Spirit.  AGers and Pentecostals hold some pretty distinctive beliefs about the Holy Spirit, so it was almost an ironic juxtaposition against my Episcopal experience just a few hours earlier.  It’s a lot more difficult to describe my experience at this church because I am so used to it.  Services almost always end with an invitation to come to the altar and have lay leaders pray for whatever need a person might have.

Now the good stuff.  What did I like or dislike?  Which did I prefer?

Likes about Episcopal church:
- reflective/meditative atmosphere
- focus on doing things corporately (confession, prayer, etc)
- a great sense of respect and reverence for the house of the Lord

Dislikes about Episcopal church:
There really wasn’t anything to dislike.  Although, I admit, it was difficult to focus on God when I was focusing on making sure I was doing the right thing at the right time.  They do their best to accomodate visitors by explaining things in the bulletin, but I probably won’t truly connect with God until I get used to it, and the rituals cease to be an obstacle.

Likes about the AG church:
- openness to creativity and change
- freedom in worship-if you want to lift your hands, or jump, or kneel, or lay prostrate, you can and no one will think it strange or disruptive
- preaching from the Bible (At the Epsicopal church, we went through the entire sermon without ever looking in the Bible. I don’t think it was an unbiblical sermon, it just wasn’t…”Biblical”.)

Dislikes of the AG church:
- services tend to feel manufactured and overproduced
- too informal- I like the modernness and informality of it, but I also like to feel like church is a special place, and Mac computers and coffee diminish that feeling for me.

Of course, not every Epsicopal/Anglican church is like the one I visited.  And not every AG church is like the one I attend.  So none of that necessarily says anything about the larger body of churches to which each of those churches belong.  I quite appreciate both places of worship for different reasons.  I’d like to visit that Episcopal church again, and I will continue to attend my home church.  Visiting new churches is almost always really awkward, but I will continue to open myself up to that awkwardness as I explore different churches.  I hope to visit a  Christian Church (DoC), a Presbyterian church, a Messianic congregation, and a Vineyard church at some point in the near future.  Wow.  I just realized that I haven’t been to a Baptist church in a really long time.  Maybe I should add that to the list?