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5:00 PM, Saturday,July 23, 2011
Memorial Presbyterian Church
(Presbyterian Church in America)
My maternal grandfather's mother was a Presbyterian. Two of the main founders of the Restoration Movement were ordained Presbyterian ministers from Scotland. This movement is represented today by the liberal Disciples of Christ, the fundamentalist independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (in which I grew up), and the fundamentalist non-instrument Church of Christ. And Walter grew up in the Presbyterian Church, attended a Presbyterian college, and his parents, for whom Presbyterian was their compromise between the Methodist and Baptist identities they brought to their marriage, remained Presbyterian until they died.
So it seems a mite strange that this was only my third time to a Presbyterian church, the first being for Walter's mother's funeral in Owensboro KY and the second being this past January in Chicago when I attended a Sunday evening jazz service at 4th Presbyterian across the street from the John Hancock Building.
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| Memorial Presbyterian Church 201 South Skinker Blvd., St. Louis MO |
I entered Memorial Presbyterian ten minutes prior to the posted Saturday evening starting time to find only a handful of people present in the massive sanctuary. The rear 2/3 of the pews were roped off to move people toward the front of the church. A middle-aged man saw me and came over to welcome me. He told me a bit about the congregation - not much money but a great building. They are focusing on urban ministry and have a lot of young adults. Indeed, as people started arriving, most were young adults, about two-thirds there as individuals or groups, one-third young parents with young children.
The man who greeted me also said that they had redesigned the previously unused chapel and turned it into a free arts and performance venue for young artists. The church is theologically conservative but does not assert any control over the content of the artists' work who use the chapel space. They see it as part of the church's outreach to the community. They are Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) not Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). That is, they are the more conservative of the two largest Presbyterian denominations in the US. They have close ties to Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis County and to church-planting missions in the city.
The music for the service was accompanied by piano and guitar, played by a couple of young men, lyrics projected onto bare wall to the left and right of the chancel. The music was partly popular Christian music from a few years back, partly old hymn in contemporary arrangement. The surprise was, in addition to the recitation of the creed, there was also a unison recitation of part of a catechism. The church is clearly concerned with right belief.
The sermon was given by a minister who is starting a church plant next week in the area around St. Louis University. He was well spoken, but the more he talked, the more it became clear how exclusive his approach to church is. He was preaching from the gospel account of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. He used the text to make three points about faith. But the biggie was the importance of getting the details right. Believing the right thing is the paramount thing in faith and worship here. The exclusivity quickly felt oppressive.
The preacher made a point of saying that plenty of atheists are more moral and generally nicer people than a lot of Christians but that the right-believing Christians were going to heaven and the atheists to hell. That's right. As told by this minister, the good go to eternal punishment in hell. As if the thoughts in your head were somehow more important than what you do in the world. More important than whether you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison...
Where the dvar torah at Central Reform Congregation that morning had explicitly worked to apply reason to a difficult text with an expectation of finding ways not to violate our ethics in dealing with the facts of an ancient society, this minister insisted that we accept the God-commanded genocides of the Bible as truly divine will. There is no wrestling with scripture here, only a requirement of blind acceptance.
After the sermon, there was communion. It was treated as open communion. That is, you don't need to be a member of that church or that denomination to partake. However, the point was clearly made that you needed to believe the right thing to partake. They didn't have police monitoring it. Only individual conscience. But the beauty of open communion was marred by the requirement for self-policing of thought and belief. The opportunity for openness and acceptance turned into a direction to exclude the self.
The people were nice, but the theology was regressive, even nasty. "Deny the best of your humanity to accept the worst of God's divinity," could have been their motto. Much like the painful approach to theology that the fundamentalist church of my upbringing practiced. I was glad to leave when the time came.
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10:00 AM, Sunday, July 24, 2011
St. Louis Friends Meeting
(Friends General Conference)
My fifth-grade teacher Sharon Newell was a Quaker. Somehow or other, she got my parents' consent to take me with her one evening (not a Sunday) to a special service at her church on a rural backroad in the next county north from us. It was not a service where the people sat in silence waiting on God, but a musical evening. I didn't know at the time that there were different flavors of Quaker available. And this was the only Quaker meeting or church in at least a nine-county circle around Jasper County IL, where I grew up. Much to my parents' consternation, I came home that evening with a borrowed biography of George Fox and another book about the Quakers. Surprisingly, they allowed me to read the books. Perhaps only because they knew there weren't many Quakers around. But Mom did wear her displeasure on her face. From the reading I developed a serious respect for the faith of Friends and the silent worship described in those books.
The next time I attended a Friends meeting was in October 2007, when I was attending a conference in Philadelphia PA. I attended the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia at Fourth and Arch that Sunday morning, the oldest Quaker congregation meeting continuously in the same location in the heart of historical Philadelphia. Together we sat in silence. One young man in plain dress and the young woman sitting with him were both moved to speak. When prayer concerns were solicited at the end of the service, I raised my oldest daughter, who was then facing surgery.
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| St. Louis Friends Meeting 1001 Park Ave., St. Louis MO |
This morning, I arrived at the meeting house at five minutes of the hour, was greeted at the door by a member who asked me if it was my first time at a Friend's meeting. When she found I was a relative newcomer, she gave me what looked like a bulletin, but instead of an order of service, it contained a brief introduction to the unprogrammed style of worship. I entered. Several people were already sitting in silence. The room was arranged with slightly bowed pews in three rows forming a more-or-less rectangle around an empty center.
We were about fifty people, sitting in silence. Some people with eyes closed. Some with eyes open. Waiting. At about thirty minutes the first person spoke, mentioning a workshop and the challenge from that workshop to think about what change is needed and how to pursue that change. At about forty-five minutes, the second person spoke a word of encouragement not to fear because God is with us. Then the children and their teachers came into the meeting. Four people gave messages that seemed rather like testimony about how the meeting has helped them. Three of those sang a brief chorus as part of their testimony. Then the clerk announced time for Joys and Concerns, and several people stood to voice them. We shook hands to formally end the meeting. Then announcements were read and, immediately before dismissal, everyone present said their name and newcomers were encouraged to say they were newcomers, to which the members said "Welcome!"
On my way out, some people spoke to me. One, someone who works at Children's Hospital and has great respect for the chaplains there. One man, someone who has meditated in a class taught by BJH staff chaplain Randall Blain, a Buddhist who is also endorsed by the Ethical Society.
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1:00 PM, Sunday, July 24, 2011
St Catherine of Siena Catholic Church
(American National Catholic Church)
By interesting coincidence, this was also precisely the third time I had attended a Catholic service that was not identified either as Roman Catholic or Episcopal/ Anglican. The previous two times being with the Community of St. Clare and St. Francis (Ecumenical Catholic Communion) in Webster Groves MO this summer. Like the ECC, the ANCC is fully inclusive, welcoming into all levels of leadership and congregational life both women, married persons, and non-celibate LGBT persons.
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| Chapel of St. John's Episcopal Church 3664 Arsenal St., St. Louis MO |
St. Catherine of Siena was officially meeting for Sunday worship for the first time this Sunday. It is led by a deacon, the Rev. Phillip Lichtenwalter, who is a facebook friend of mine and who is scheduled to be ordained a priest this November. This fledgling parish meets in the chapel of St. John's Episcopal Church on Arsenal Street, on the south side of Tower Grove Park.
There were seven present, including Phillip, Phillip's partner, and Phillip's mother and father. Phillip said that the Post Dispatch has interviewed him and will run an article on the new parish and new presence in the city of this independent Catholic church. It is a small starting point, but the chapel where they meet has the possibility of holding around twenty-five people. They will have a comfortable place in which to grow to that size if they have the financial support to pay the bills until the numbers and financial base grow.
We did a little bit of a cappella singing in the service. And those present accepted the role of reader for the lessons and the prayers of the faithful. I served as reader for the prayers. Like communion at Sts. Clare and Francis, communion here is open to anyone who desires to partake. A blessing is also available to any who would like to receive one instead of communion.
Phillip preached a very nice interpretation of the Gospel lesson, Matthew 13:44-52, The Pearl of Great Price, and is off to a good start. I wish him and the new parish well.
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1 responses:
Sounds like a busy weekend :-) Glad you are preparing for ministry life - three services is the usual minimum these days.
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