More on Churches (not Moron Churches)
Looking back on the few entries I have made here, they mostly address church and work. Those are two big parts of my life, and this post begins another mini-series about churches.I'm a little sad that I didn't blog much about church when Amanda and I lived in Greensboro, because now we really miss the church we had there.
It's not like everything there was perfect. In fact, when I rediscovered this blog site of mine, I had an unfinished entry (it was barely started, actually - just a title) about how I was not in support of that church leveling a historic house for a few more parking spaces. But it was a place where both Amanda and I felt welcomed and included, and where we grew in our faith. So we miss being there.
Kinda like we missed our old church in Charlottesville after we moved to Chapel Hill. And now we've been back in Charlottesville for 10 months, attending University Baptist Church, the church we used to miss, where we were married. So all is right with the world, yes? Except we've changed... We began our married life in Chapel Hill, moved to Carrboro, then moved to Greensboro. We church-hopped in Chapel Hill, settled on a militantly liberal church that didn't ever feel quite right, then moved to Greensboro and visited only two churches before finding one that was basically perfect. We changed through our life experiences.
...And our church in Charlottesville hasn't. That's one of the comforting things about it: each Sunday, the order of worship is strikingly the same, the offertory is done the same way, Communion never varies. This consistent nature is one thing I love about how the music is done there: for each hymn, the organist plays a full verse as an introduction, the congregation stands on the last stanza of the introduction, the first and last verses are in unison, and any middle verses are in parts. Once you learn the routine, it makes it easy to worship without worrying about doing something wrong. It is still a moderate church with a traditional style.
But maybe a church needs to change a little.
I'm not sure what change is needed. Maybe the leadership retreat (termed an "advance") will figure that out, and I look forward to hearing its findings. But it just doesn't feel quite right anymore.
As a result, at the risk of offending people there, which I really do not want to do, Amanda and are checking out some other churches in our city. When I started at UVA, I did that. I visited the big church, the hokey church, the black church, and others before settling on UBC. Having grown up nearby, Amanda has pretty much only been to her home church and this one.
Visiting elsewhere might simply end up making us feel sure that we should stay at UBC. Perhaps seeing other places will help us appreciate the qualities that made it ideal for my college years. Or perhaps we'll find someplace else that feels right. If that happens, it will be sad to leave, but a church should help with spiritual growth, and if that's not happening, it's not the right place.
Timing is also important. It would be even more troublesome to be church-shopping if we already had kids who were "established" at a church. So it looks like we've got until February to figure something out!
But still, we're somewhat invested at UBC. I sing in the choir and got nominated to serve on the Transportation committee.
Labels: church
posted by Peter @ 07:22
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