I Went To Church Today

I went to church today.  That, in and of itself, isn't earth shattering, but as I sat there, I realized I haven't been to church in over 30 years. Oh, I've been to baptisms and weddings and things like that, but I have not gone to worship.  Actually, I was in church 30 years ago today, getting married to Tony.  

My friend, Carol and I went to Grace Methodist church in downtown Wilmington this morning.  They had some water damage recently in the sanctuary, so we had service in the large gym area.   

Everyone was very friendly and there was a good mix of older people, young families and babies hanging out together. It looked like there were 150 people attending.  There were 30 people in the choir and the music was very good.  

The only "iffy" part of church was the pastor.  He was in his early 60's, balding and very short.   He started the worship service with what I considered to be a series of commercials.  He thanked various committees for things they had accomplished, thanked local businesses for their donations and asked the congregation to be sure to frequent these businesses.  He gave times and locations for various meetings and then thanked mothers in general for all of the work they do.  

The UCC churches I have attended had announcements too, but not at the beginning of the worship service.  It was kind of a mood changer.  

I was also not over the moon about his sermon.  I have heard some really good sermons--this was not one of them.  His was called, "Basic Things...Powerful Things."   He started out by reading a two person poem about children.  He would read an upbeat section about what our children have and do and then someone from the congregation read the "downer" part of the poem about how many children in the world don't have what ours do.  

From there, he directed us to a drawing of Mazlow's hierarchy of needs that was a bulletin insert.  He tried to tie that to the jobs that mothers do raising their children, but it wasn't connecting for me. 

Then, he told us about a time when he and his wife were in college.   They wanted to hear a rendition of the Messiah Chorus, but tickets were $9.00 a piece.  They didn't have the money, so they dressed warmly and sat outside of the venue to hear the music.  A security guard found them sitting there and shivering and didn't send them on their way because it was cold and they made the effort to hear the concert.  Again, not sure how that tied to anything else he was talking about. 

Finally, to end the sermon, he took a sad story from Dr. Phil, but inserted himself into the story.  I kept thinking...."you don't write your own material, do you?"

But, the church does a lot of ministering to the community and they support a mission in Haiti by sending clothing and school supplies for the children in a small village.  

The minister was standing at the back of the gym as the service ended and seemed really glad that I selected Grace church to visit.  He said even if I didn't come back, if I ever had any spiritual needs I could call him.  I thought that was nice (I also thought I should have put  more money in the collection plate!)

Next week, Carol and I are going to Pine Valley Methodist church to see what happens there.  Carol is looking for a home church, I'm not sure I ready for that step.  

But, I went to church today and it was nice.  Nice to be in a worshiping community of people with beliefs similar to what I know from the UCC.