I am just returning from a mini-vacation in North Carolina
with my best friend seeing her brother and her family. It reminded me of how
much I love the South. This is always surprising to me because I am such a
liberal Yankee. While on vacation I always try to go to church. I have to say I
was worried about the southern stereo types coming into play. Even though
general conference proved to me that there are many awesome exceptions to these
stereotypes I was still quite nervous. I did look up several reconciling
congregations, however since we were at my friend’s brother’s house and he
would be driving me (they drive pretty expensive cars, so I was a-okay with not
driving myself) I wanted to go to one that was convenient. Still being pretty fresh off of general
conference and with North Carolina’s recent marriage vote I was a little nervous
as to what I would find. Yet, not going to church was simply not an option.
Church is where I connect with God best and being someone who needs to work on
spiritual discipline I need to go to church.
Not, surprisingly I am always in evaluation mode when I
attend a church. I always think ‘would this ever be my church home if I were to
live here.’ I am not sure that this church would be a church home for me, but I
would at least take a second look. They definitely had some work to do on
greeting visitors and making them feel welcome. Other than the greater at the
door and the passing of the peace I don’t think one person said hello and no
one asked my name or why I was there. Not that I want someone to fall all over
me but, I thought they could do better.
While, not likely that if I were to move to the Raleigh area
I would make this church my church home I was glad I was there. I definitely
saw God at work in these folks. It was discipleship Sunday. The whole service
was laity lead. Each person shared scripture and their experiences in adult
Sunday School. This church offers all of the Disciple classes and a variety of
other book and Bible studies. While the language took a little while to get use
to ( a lot of father God and Christ our lord and savior) these persons shared
heartfelt stories. These classes had clearly touched their hearts and souls.
Every person up there beamed, as they spoke about gaining a deeper sense of the
scripture, budding friendships, the fellowship and especially the growth in
their relationship to God. This is
exactly what you want to happen in these classes.
It was not what I was expected from my Sunday
worship experience, it was certainly welcome. To use a Wesley expression, I
felt my heart strangely warmed. This is the Church at work. This is how church is
supposed to be, these persons felt nurtured and fulfilled. They had been given
the space and take the opportunity to listens to the calls and nudges of God to
develop understanding of their relationship to God and one another. In my last
post I passionately wrote about my desire to stay in the United Methodist
Church and this moment was one of those reminders why. While it was not entirely clear the theological
and doctrinal stances of this church (my assumption is a little right of
moderate) it was clear their commitment to growing further in love with God and
developing strong relationships with each other. It was clear that a curriculum
used heavily with in the Methodist church, and the idea of class meetings had
provided that space for them. I was
happy. I was happy know that I had a shared connection to them in our history.
I was happy that while no one spoke to me directly, there was a space for me to
worship in this community. There was an excitement stirred in me to see laity
take on the role of leading worship and sharing the transformative power of God
at work within the Church.
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