church visit #2

So after the big ole' mega church, wewent to the local UCC church in our neighborhood, The congregation is "open and affirming" and had a nice supportive GLBT bumper sticker next to the entrance. It was a pretty small church, with maybe 40 people in attendance on this day. The people looked pretty diverse for this university town, with older and younger people, some african amercans, a few gay couples, a nice assortment of children, and the obligatory middle aged guy with a pony tail.

Instead of Christian Rock, there was a violinist playing the pre-service music. the service was also more traditional with an actual liturgy with readings from the bible, responsive readings, and a sermon that was for some reason called a "message." Like the mega church, this church seemed to want to seem "modern" and the first two hymn were taking from a hymn book that consisted mostly of songs written after 1970. The first song was pretty dorky, the second better, and I was pleased the last one was an old favorite of mine from the more traditional hymn book.

I was impressed at how well the congregation sang! I was a member of a much larger UCC congregation before and , appart from the choir, it seemed everyone just stood and mouthed the words. This place was too small for a choir, but made up for it with singing which, while not baptist like enthusiasm, filled the room nicely.

The day we chose to visit was the fiftieth aniversery of the church, we we were in for a bunch of inside church baseball. People came up and talked about how this church affected them, how it started out with only 5 people. I was impressed that apparently the group went door to door to find members (most mainline protestants are just too uptight for that). The service was not overly formal, with people joking around with each other. The Rev. seemed to know everyone personally called people out by name several times. He did not dance around like the mega church guy but he spoke clearly and with definite commitment and enthusiasm. The "message" used the parable of the mustard seed to illuminate both the growth of this little church and the role of the church in influencing the surrounding community.

After church, there was cake and coffee, and we hung around a bit. My dug in with gusto, and I had three cups of coffee. The people were nice, the food was good, and the coffee was caffienated. Everything the spiritual pilgrim needs.