Mickey Chuckles
[Confused? Read this first.]On Sunday we decided not to visit anywhere special but went to University Baptist, in part because a minister who was there during our student days was back as a guest preacher. We remember him offering the kind of energy and welcome that we're looking for.
He did not disappoint. On my way inside, his wife remembered my name - amazing because I didn't remember hers - and they chatted with me for a moment. Amanda and I felt that his sermon was more relevant than what we've been used to, or maybe it was just that his expressive tone kept us from zoning out (much). A bonus surprise was a duet our guest sang with the music minister.
Centered on the parable of the mustard seed, the sermon pondered the idea of deliberately sitting back to let God cultivate the church, and whether that will result in something like what happens when we leave a garden to God's cultivation: a mixture of wheat and weeds, fruity vines and bushy chaos. (For non-Bible scholars, he explained that mustard was essentially a kudzu-like weed in Jesus' time.) He put this in the context of growing the church: Should churches focus on the traditional three B's (building, budget, and bodies)? Or should churches grow each person spiritually, and focus on being the church in the community, without worrying so much about size, money, and outward appearances? Should churches be cleanly cultivated so they look impressive, or should they be diverse enough to include both people who the world views as wheat and those viewed as weeds?
We're not sure if he was describing where he sees UBC heading, or challenging the church to head in that direction. But I wanted to go to the church that gracefully welcomes weeds and wheat and deliberately grows everyone spiritually instead of just growing the three B's.
And I guess that's one reason we're not sure about our future at UBC: Amanda and I aren't entirely sure we're growing there. I wonder, though, if we'd grow more if we spent more time trying. In the summer, we've basically only been present for Sunday worship, and only two or three times a month.
So it was a better-than-average day at our moderate-but-traditional church. But we're not sure if this was because we had higher expectations, because it was something different, or what.
We are off the hook for deciding where to go the next two weeks because we'll be out of town. And one of those weeks will be in Greensboro, so we will see if things at that church are as rosy as we make them out to be now that we're gone.
This is not to say we don't like the regular pastor. He's a nice man, he's caring, and I believe he has a genuine concern for social justice. But he doesn't seem to connect with the congregation in a challenging way like the pastor at our church in Greensboro did. Plus, there's definitely something to be said for having a different voice from the pulpit every once in a while.
We are off the hook for deciding where to go the next two weeks because we'll be out of town. And one of those weeks will be in Greensboro, so we will see if things at that church are as rosy as we make them out to be now that we're gone.
Also: Amanda and I have decided we should get paid by churches to evaluate them. Maybe we should take a commission out of the offering plates.
Labels: church
posted by Peter @ 18:43
2 Comments:
I am of the belief that a church is a community. Like any community, you need to feel safe and have a level of general enjoyment when in the community. This community is not found by watching sermons (you can do that from your couch/futon at home). A church's pastor is important for setting a church's general course, true, but the pastor is not the head of the body. If a pastor's sermons do not help you grow spiritually, then test the Sunday school or small groups out to see if this side of the community fosters spiritual grow. And if you are planning to claim commission, just don't do it on a communion Sunday!
Well said, especially for a Tech grad. Maybe I'll write about Sunday School soon.
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