City Churches in April

Recently, while researching for the Movie Churches section of this blog, I watched 1984's "Footloose". The preacher in the film sermonizes on the moral superiority of small towns. There are many people who feel this way. I'm not sure where this idea comes from, because it sure doesn't come from Scripture.

Perhaps the reasoning behind this thinking is that God made nature and people made buildings, ergo: Rural > Urban because there are more buildings and fewer trees in the city. They also might think that cities have lots of evil stuff: bars, strip clubs, universities teaching humanism and art galleries with naked pictures; whereas small towns just have food markets, one room school houses and, of course, churches. People in cities are too sophisticated for church but everyone in small towns goes to church.

Roger Finke and Rodney Stark's book "The Churching of America" says the theory of small towns being more churched than cities is hooey. What do you need for a church? If I'm not mistaken, people are necessary. And cities have more people than small towns. Big cities are more likely to have a variety of churches and often have a greater percentage of church attendees in their population.

More importantly, the Bible seems to take a different view of cities. Jesus spent time in small towns and the country, but He also spent time with the cities. He cared about cities. In Luke 19:41, Jesus weeps for Jerusalem upon approaching the city.  Sure, Sodom and Gomorrah don't come out well in Scripture, but the first sin is in a garden, and the first murder is out on the farm. Heaven, on the other hand, is describe as a city -- the New Jerusalem.

God loves the city, and through the month of April, we'll be seeing what God is doing in four different churches in four different cities.

-- Dean    

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Healdsburg

Let's start out with my admission that no sé español. And yes, I did have to look that phrase up. 

Sure, I know "señor" is often "Mister," but it's
"Lord" in church. And I've watched enough Pepé le Pew that I know that "amor" is love (and yes, I know the skunk is French, but it's a common Romance languages thing). But most of what was said and read during worship in the Spanish language service of St. John's Catholic Church in Healdsburg, I couldn't comprehend -- except for the most important thing, which was Christ being honored.

This service is easily the largest regular gathering for worship (or probably regular gathering of any kind) in Healdsburg. Our guess is that the sanctuary comfortably seats about 600 people and it was packed (as we were told it is most every Sunday). Of course, Healdsburg is not unique in having a well-attended Spanish language service, and it's certainly not unique in the history of the United States.


With the flood of immigrants into the United States in the 19th Century, the Catholic Church soon overtook every individual Protestant denomination to become the leading denomination in the United States. Many church historians assumed that this took place because the immigrants were devout Catholics who came over and continued their churchgoing habits.



But church historians Roger Finke and Rodney Stark argue that something quite different happened. They argue that many from the five largest groups of immigrants (Germans, Italians, Poles, French and Mexicans) were not particularly devout in their home countries. But when they came to the States, they flocked to churches that offered a common language and traditions with the homeland they had left. They note "because Catholic parishes are geographical units, they are often very homogeneous in terms of class or ethnicity." As late as 1916, half (49%) of all Catholics in the U.S. attended a parish where a language other than English was used (at the time, of course, Latin was used in all Catholic churches, but the reference was to language used for the sermon, announcements, etc.). The church grew partly because it was a place where people's native language could be heard.


We went to two services at St. John's Sunday, an English language service at 10:00 am and the Spanish language service at noon. We were curious what differences there might be between the two services. The order of service was the same, the same priest conducted both services and both services ran about an hour. In both services we couldn't find a bulletin, though everybody around us had one, so we often had a difficult time finding the words and music to the songs being sung. There were also a number of differences between the two services, in spite of both using the order of service for the fifth Sunday in Ordinary time (as announced at both services).











Different songs were used throughout the service. Whereas in the 10:00 am service there was a piano and small choir downstairs, in the noon service there was a lively group singing in the balcony to the accompaniment of a keyboard and (maybe) other instruments. The only song I could sing along with was a chorus with the lyrics, "Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya" (which I was able to translate to "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia").

In both services there were two offerings, one after the other; the first general and the second for the facilities. A second offering seemed to be a usual thing. We greatly enjoyed watching a very tiny girl in a pink dress gripping a dollar bill. She wandered the aisle until an usher lowered the offering basket so she could perform a slam dunk with the buck.





There were quite a few young children, members of young families, in the service. There was quite a diversity of ages, old to young. The noon sermon was in Spanglish, often sounding like this, "Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, so we must remember, Spanish, Spanish" or "So this cute little girl, Spanish, Spanish, donut". We could tell it was a different sermon from the sermon in the English service, which focused on Pope Francis. There was no mention of Francis in the noon sermon and no mention a little girl in Ukiah asking about donuts in the 10:00 am sermon. The theme of both, however, seemed to be that authentic speech has authority, as described in Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28.

Something else that differed between the services was the celebration of the presentation of the Baby Jesus at the Temple. Many people brought specially dressed dolls representing Jesus, each crowned and sitting on a throne-like chair, to place on the platform at the front to commemorate the event.





I have to say that as a Protestant I'm not entirely comfortable with this or many other aspects of the service. Prayers to Mary and various saints, transubstantiation, icons and ceremonies like these not only make me uncomfortable but I find theologically unsound. But the Apostle's Creed was recited by the congregation, and it contains the very essence of sound theology. That does my Evangelical, Fundamentalist heart good.


-- Dean

Statistics:

Service Length: 1 hour

Sermon Length: 8 minutes

Visitor Treatment: nothing particular, but the "passing of the peace" at both services was warm and sincere. An acquaintance we'd seen at the 10:00 am service waited and sat with us at the noon service.

Our Rough Count: 520, or about 8 people per row

Probable Ushers' Count: 650, or about 10 people per row (according to a sign, room capacity is 1250)

Snacks: donuts and other treats for sale in front of the church afterward. We don't know for sure, but these may be individual family enterprises

Miles to Place: 10

Total California Miles: 3550

Why We're Going Where English is a Second (or third or fourth) Language

If you wanted to know what the Bible had to say about multiple languages and all you had to go on was the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible, you'd probably think the multitude of languages in the world is a very bad thing. If you want a refresher on the story found in the first nine verses of Genesis 11 (Genesis, which means beginnings, is the first book of the Bible), here's a summary: There was a time when only one language was spoken on earth. But a group of people decided to build a great tower to the heavens. God wasn't pleased with this plan, and He decided to stop it. So He "confused their language" so they couldn't work together. And they spread throughout the earth.

One could easily take from that story the idea that the multiple languages on earth are a punishment from God. Therefore one would assume that if God is going to redeem the earth, part of that plan would be to bring everyone back to one language. Surely, the New Heaven and New Earth would be a place a little like Star Trek: The Original Series, wherein everywhere Captain Kirk went in the universe, English was spoken by every species.

But Babel isn't God's last word on language. To begin with, note that the Bible itself isn't a one language book. The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, but sections of Daniel and Ezra were written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek with a few Aramaic quotes. So God choose not to use just one language for His book.

In Acts 2: 4, Luke records the first miracle of the new Church; "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues at the Spirit enabled them." The disciples went out and shared the Gospel in the very languages of the foreigners visiting Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost. God could have performed a very different miracle. He could have enabled the foreign visitors to understand the language of the disciples.

So perhaps the tale of Babel isn't just a story of punishment. As the writer of the book of Hebrews explained, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."*

Discipline for sin was a part of the story of Babel, but that wasn't all God had in mind. As one reads the story of Scripture, one sees that God didn't just mean to punish with those languages. It caused people to spread throughout the earth, which was a good thing. But that isn't all that He had in mind. It seems He really likes all those languages.

That's why it's called the "gift" of tongues. In Scripture we see God's Spirit giving both conventional and "heavenly" languages. The multitude of languages is a part of the wonder and good of His creation, and the creation to come. In Revelation 9:7, the last book of the Bible, John writes of heaven, "'I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne.'"

Mindy and I decided we'd rather not wait for heaven to worship with those other languages. So for the month of February, we'll be going to churches where languages other than English are used for worship. Because we disagree with the title of that old Warren Beatty movie. This month, anyway, heaven can't wait.

*Hebrews 12:11 (all Bible references in this post are from the New International Version, but there are a lot of different English language translations of the Bible. Check out https://www.biblegateway.com/ to take a look at some of them.)

- Dean

Ten Going South Travel Observations

This month, we're traveling to the farthest North, South, East and West churches we can find in California. Each week, in addition to church reports, we'll be reporting about our travels.

In the Bible, "South" is the region of heat, dryness and spices, but also carries some sense of protection (David hid on the south side of a stone when he was hiding from Saul) and delight (soft winds wafting sweet smells). The kingdom of Judea, which was (slightly) more faithful to God than the northern kingdom of Israel, was in the southern portion of the Promised Land. This week we aimed for the church furthest south in California.

1.)  Observation not for the faint of heart We stopped for lunch at Arby's, and I (Dean) wanted to bring my soda to the car. But I also needed to go to the rest room. Taking a drink into a truck stop rest room is a questionable action but... it gets worse. I rested the drink on the toilet paper dispenser. I was seated. The drink fell. It hit my knee. Diet Dr Pepper exploded all over my shirt. The vast majority the ice went in my shorts. I'll never know what people in the rest room thought about the guy laughing loudly in the stall.

2.) Many drive-ins in Southern California are now the homes of swap meets. But that doesn't mean you can't find entertainment there anymore. We drove by a marquee advertising "Blink 80 True," apparently a tribute band saluting Blink 182, scheduled to perform Saturday 12:00 - 5:00 pm. So while shopping for used back packs and Star Wars knick-knacks, you can listen to a band that could only get a gig at a swap meet to cover "Josie".

3.) Checked the drawers at the Best Western for a Gideon Bible but it was not to be found. Last month at the Marriott in Indiana there was a Gideon Bible along with a Book of Mormon. Last week at our hotel in Dorris there was no Gideon Bible. Might be a California trend. When the Hotel Healdsburg opened in 2001 the decision was made not to have Gideon Bibles but we kept some at the front desk, and I (Dean) was asked for a Bible once by someone reading I Corinthians 13 at a wedding.

4.) Driving through the Central Valley, you might notice one or two or three dozen signs protesting water policy. There's math on the signs ("Water = Jobs"), sports ("Fighting for Water") and, of course, politics. These signs probably were crucial in Barbara Boxer's choosing to not run again. Some of these signs have been up for a while, like the one that says, "2013 - 80% Water Reduction, 2014 - ?"

5.) May we just say that the world needs more quality Mexican food available 24 hours a day? 

6.) We found a classical station as we approached San Diego with the ads and commentary sometimes in English and sometimes in Spanish. As far as we could tell, one language or the other was used for each announcement rather than everything being announced in both languages. It seems XLNC1 transmits from Baja California for the enjoyment of the San Diego and Tijuana market. The musical selections were even more varied than the classical station we tend to listen to, and included the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" played baroque style.

7.) Both of us spent a number of childhood vacations in Southern California. The scenery has changed (a lot) since then. We were glad, though, that even through the misty rain and multiple hotels beside the freeway in Anaheim, it was still possible to see the Matterhorn at Disneyland from the freeway.

8.) We stopped at the Coalinga/Avenal rest stop on our way south and I (Mindy) was struck by the clean smell and park-like atmosphere. Turns out these rest stops (there's one on either side of the I-5) have 4.5 stars on Yelp. I hadn't realized one could review rest stops.

9.) It does rain in Southern California. We woke up Sunday morning to news reports of "It's rainy. Drive safely out there," but really, it was barely drizzling. After church, the clouds decided to get serious, and for the first several hours of the drive home, actual raindrops made taking photos through the car windows difficult. Nearer to home, we had fog on departure and arrival. All this made the surrounding hills, when we could see them, very green.

10.) It's a long way from our house to the southern border of California.

-- Dean and Mindy