I am a woman of many churches.
When I am at home in Winnipeg, my Sundays are shared between Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship and St. Benedict's Table (Anglican). I am at home in both of these places and unwilling to give up either one. In preparation for going to Paraguay, I temporarily added a Spanish-speaking congregation to my list as well. The difficulty for me -- and part of the reason I sometimes run the risk of getting "over-churched," as some people joke -- is that there are wonderful people seeking after the heart of God in meaningful ways everywhere. I want to be a part of all of that!
During our month here in Chicago, we are expected to visit many different churches. This is good for me because it means I can't get really involved at or committed to any one of them, but just participate in fellowship as a sister who is a guest.
The first Sunday we all went to First Church of the Brethren, since they are our host in the city. People were very welcoming and delighted to have us in their midst. Most of the congregation was Black, with a few white and Asian faces mixed in, and we were all introduced. It being Family Day, the meditation was given by a married couple, who talked about what it had meant for them to become a family in the face of opposition to their inter-racial union. The music was lively, with hymns from the African Heritage hymnal being accompanied by organ and lots of percussion scattered throughout the rows. We were also in for a treat with the performance by Men of Destiny, who sang like they really meant it.
The service was followed by a fellowship lunch, in which the Radical Journey group's only contribution was to help set up and then partake of the food and visit with people. These folks were serious about the "fellowship" part of the fellowship lunch! Being friendly and talkative was by no means optional. I met Orlando, the pastor of the church, and we discovered that we went to the same elementary school in Winnipeg. The whole experience of church with this congregation was positive.
In the evening of that Sunday, I went with another girl from the house to Church of Our Saviour, which is an Anglican congregation. It was the most delightful thing! Partly this was because I had been missing St. Benedict's Table very much and it was good to be back in the familiar ritual. In addition to that fact, the priest's way of speaking was uncannily similar to that of Jamie Howison, my priest back home. She even started a sentence with, "I have a hunch..." I loved it. It was, in an important way, like being at home. I find that I really miss Communion too, if I go one or more Sundays without it, so it was good to get back into my routine with that.
On to Sunday number three in Chicago! This past weekend, I went with four others to Reba Place Church. I had heard about it from Marcus and Jenn when I was still in Winnipeg, and had been looking forward to seeing for myself what this place was all about. It was described to me as an intentional Christian community that started 51 years ago in Evanston (a suburb north of Chicago). For this reason, I planned on more than a morning worship service. We e-mailed ahead, and we were invited to come for the service, then be hosted for lunch in someone's home, and then have a tour of the Fellowship (intentional community).
The service was great! The opening song was a hymn from the standard Mennonite Hymnal: A Worship Book. Everyone was clearly very familiar with singing four-part harmony, and it was beautifully done. Imagine my surprise, then, when not a single hymn was sung for the rest of the service! Every song was led by a different member of the worship team, and the styles varied drastically. The African-American drummer led a really lively, upbeat song with lots of clapping and movement. There was a song that involved a congregational dance around the sanctuary -- yes, really! It was great! There were a few classic "praise & worship" songs, but they were well chosen and had more meaningful lyrics than the stereotypical "God gives me good feelings" tunes from this category.
I just want to say right now that one of the reasons I am unwilling to commit only to one home church is that I feel multiple ways of doing worship, including music, are good and meaningful. It has been my general experience that the same congregation cannot authentically do multiple, very different styles of worship. Usually when a well-intentioned congregation tries too hard to implement different styles of liturgy and song, it feels kind of awkward and forced. It has therefore been my belief that different congregations should continue to do things in their own way. People should visit (or be a regular part of) multiple churches, to expand their horizons and learn new ways to worship, while staying connected to at least one home church.
Well, now Reba Place Church has genuinely got me wondering if I was wrong. Maybe it IS possible to do several, totally different styles of music... in the same congregation... totally authentically and naturally. Does this mean that maybe it is possible to have one "perfect" church? One that can do and teach and sing everything that is worth doing and teaching and singing? REALLY? I have no firm conclusions about this yet. But I am thinking about it again.
The rest of my experience at Reba Place was fantastic. I would love to say more about that to anyone who is interested.
I continue to accumulate information and opinions about community living and what it means to be church. Next on my "To Read" list is Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution. We'll see how that informs and shapes my thinking about the subject...
4 comments:
Is a perfect church just the worshiping style? Or is church more than just worship in a traditional sense?
i know! who needs men when you can date the church?!
xxx
"...different congregations should continue to do things in their own way."
Krista's right I think to ask about the bigger picture of a church's being, beyond corporate worship.
In He Shines in All That's Fair: Culture and Common Grace (2001) Richard Mouw works through a bit how different denominations have different gifts, because the "Lord sends us his Spirit who in turn distributes necessary gifts [...] to his people in their gathered-ness." (2001: 26).
I feel the need to add to my original blog post, that I do NOT in fact think that musical worship style is all that makes a church what it is.
There is much more that feeds into a church, and into what makes churches different from one another. Some of these things include the setting in which the congregation chooses to meet for corporate worship; the theology of the group; the areas of special passion, such as hunger or peace or evangelism or literacy; the ways of praying; the type of teaching considered appropriate and most helpful; leadership styles; community atmosphere; the spiritual gifts that are present; emphasis on individual relationship with God or else corporate connection to God, if either is prioritized...
I by no means meant to suggest in my blog post that its style of worship music is all that there is to a church. I certainly do not think this is true. It is only one of the many ways in which different congregations of God's people are blessed with different understandings of how to be and do church.
In the big picture, some of what I am trying to figure out is which parts of all this -- if any -- are really essential to "get right." Are any of them? While there must be a continual striving after fidelity to the will of God, I think that there is a lot of divine grace extended to those who earnestly seek God. It is not up to us to get religion right, but rather, I suspect, to understand that God's way is far beyond us, and that we depend on God to give us glimpses of truth. We must follow as honestly and openly as we know how, and by God's grace, trust that that will be enough.
After all, the point of the Christian faith is that we are unable to save ourselves, is it not? We did our part to wreak havoc on God's ideal of shalom for the world, and through Christ, God is busy picking up the pieces.
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