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June 7, 2005
Church Hopping Part 2
Well I decided I should finish this report a lot quicker than the last one. Actually the other one was done, but I let it sit unposted while I debated the repercussions with Dianne. We finally came to consensus on it after some refinements and it got posted.
My second loop was pretty good. The average age of the congregations both went down about 5 years or so. The first church has donuts which is a major plus, nothing I like better in the morning than donuts! The preacher still does the walking around the audience thing, which is going to be an issue for Dianne. Did I mention neither of the regular preachers were preaching at either of the churches I went to last week? I probably should have, because it's significant. One thing I've always liked about the Methodists is that their sermons aren't very long. I've got no problem with long sermons if you're a great preacher and have something of merit to say. I've listened to some really long ones and have been unaware of the passage of time because it was so enthralling, but let's all be honest, the number of brilliant story teller ministers is extremely small. Most of the rest of them can preach a good 10 minute sermon and that's just long enough to make a point while not boring the audience into unconsciousness. The first sermon was fair, nothing profound or life changing. Most preachers have one great sermon in them, and everything else they do is decent to bad. I've seen a few that have several really good ones, but once again that's a rare thing to see in ministers. Anyway, I digress.
This was the first Sunday of the month so they did the Lord's supper. To be honest as a Baptist we don't do such things, so it's been pretty alien to me for as long as I've seen it done. For me the interesting parts are always the procedures of the ritual. The Catholics all drink from the same cup and are given wafers. The priest wipes the cup and let's the next person drink. Given my natural aversion to germs, it's unlikely I could ever become a Catholic. Intellectually I know it's relatively sanitary, but I cringe at the thought of it. At the Church of Christ (CoC) they have nice sanitary mini-cups for everyone that are held in specially designed trays and passed around, while the bread is placed in it's own plate and comes out first. During one service I redesigned the tray to speed up the service because it just takes too long sitting around waiting for each tray to be past. So I had the idea of a center tray with the bread in it, with the mini-cups surrounding it, and that sitting over a tray to hold the donations. It would cut down wasted time by about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the church. As you can tell CoC services run very slow so I have a lot of time to work on improvements. Now the Methodists have several techniques and I got exposed to a totally new one last Sunday. The first service did the mini-cups like the CoC, but used a French loaf like I was used to seeing in the Methodist services for bread. The second service did something totally different, they used the Catholics single cup with the normal French loaf, but they dipped their bread into the cup and eliminated the sanitary concerns. I have to give them kudos for creativity.
The second service was interesting. I really like ministers that draw in things from history and other religious documents. It's a sign of a superior education when a preacher can call on other sources to make a more dramatic point in his sermon. Now I was a little disturbed by the second service, something called the Confirmation of young people into the church. I had always known there was some process of indoctrination of the young in every religion. My own failed indoctrination helped develop my views of religion, so I realize it plays an important role in shaping people's views of their religion. It was actually a very interesting process. After what appears to have been a hefty 6 months of education on the church the new members went through a loyalty oath to the church with their parents and sponsors in a highly organized ritual. Then they were presented to the church as a whole, with a series of supportive group prayers welcoming them to the community of their church. It was a fascinating rite of passage to say the least. I'm divided on the issue of whether someone between the ages of 12 to 18 can make such an informed decision long term decision about their faith. I know that my views of faith have changed fundamentally since I was 12. I worry that it leads to a rote kind of faith, instead of something deeper and more meaningful. I have met teenagers that were with it enough to make such decisions, but it's a very rare thing from my experience. I'm not convinced being able to organize all the books of the bible in proper order really is the same as having the fundamental spiritual connection, but again I digress.
All and all I've been pretty pleased with what I've seen at the two churches. Of course the challenge is picking one to go to. The budget at the second church is a little disturbing, they are currently running with a budget deficit, which is a matter of some concern. The first church doesn't have a budget status posted so I haven't gotten to see if it has any issues. I find the minister at the first church to be a little more impersonal than the second one, but it could be because he's from New York. I think I may have to expand my search to a little bit larger area to see if I can find what I'm looking for. I may go to a Baptist church just to visit some of my old ghosts. Somehow I don't think it would be the same, but hey I might give it a try anyway.
Posted by ManDrake at June 7, 2005 1:23 PM
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