When word got out that a western
green mamba would be appearing in the Sunday morning service, serpent handlers
from all over the state made their way to the place. Sure, the rattlers were
there along with the asps, but nothing would bring Luke 10:19 ("Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy...") alive like highly venomous Dendroapsis angusticeps!
All right, we didn't actually go to a
snake handling church this past Sunday.
We went to a very nice church, Faith Christian Fellowship. This month
we're visiting churches of denominations we haven't visited before, and FCF is
a part of the Christian Reformed Church. We hadn't written about any Reformed
churches, so there we were. It seemed to be a heathy church, and it
was a nice service. I'll write a little more about it shortly. But first I'd
like to address a challenge we face writing these posts week by week.
There's a famous quote from Leo
Tolstoy from Anna Karenina, "All
happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Churches are something like that. Many happy worship services are alike, and
it's a challenge to find new ways to write about them. My nephew told me
recently, "I like to read when there's something wrong with the church,
when there's not it's a snooze."
So that's one side of things. On the
other side of things is we love the Church. We think most people would be
better off going to a good church. Our preference is to find good churches
doing unique things that we can herald. We're not looking to seek out the next
Westboro Baptist or Jim Jones death cult.
We'll continue to visit what we hope
are good churches, and we'll try to write about them honestly. We'll try to
highlight what's interesting and unique about them. And if boomslangs or any
other venomous snake make an appearance, we'll pass that along. But I'd rather
avoid them.
Anyway, here are five observations
about Faith Christian Fellowship Church in Walnut Creek:
1) The Reformed Church's history in
America goes back to Dutch immigrants. I talked to one gentleman in the church
who said when he started coming seven years ago he thought he'd have to change
his name to De Groot or Van Keppel to fit in. But the church has changed, and
we observed an ethnic mix in the church that reflected the local population.
4) During the pastoral prayer, people were given the opportunity to say the names of people in need (and they did). 
5) A box of Kleenex was at the end
of every row. This is something every church should do.
Not the stuff of headlines, I admit.
But that's okay if they're living out their statement of faith, "Called to
equip each other to know God, love others and serve the world". What makes
for good blogging and good living is not always the same thing. And that's
okay.
-- Dean
Statistics:
Service Length: 1 hour 11
minutes
Sermon Length: 32 minutes
Visitor Treatment: We were
warmly greeted by at least four people, including greeters near each entrance.
We'd read that visitors were encouraged to get a gift at the information table,
and when we mentioned that we were first time visitors, we were given a cold
drink glass (with lid and straw, but no water yet) containing a welcome note
and a pen. Even though we were already clutching the glasses, several other
people asked if we were first time visitors. We were also greeted by folks in
neighboring pews during the greeting time. Guests were asked to fill out a
bulletin tear-off sheet and deposit them in a box in the lobby. Finding the box
took some searching.
Followup by Tuesday Morning:
none
Our Rough Count: 70
Probable Ushers' Count: 100
Snacks: coffee, decaf, tea,
lemonade, cookies and pastries in the courtyard between the sanctuary and the
fellowship hall.
Musicians: piano (woman)
acoustic guitar (man)
electric bass (man)
drums (man)
vocalists (two men, two women)
Songs: Doxology
Your
Everlasting Love
Everlasting
God
Cornerstone
Come
Thou Fount
Trust
and Obey
Step
by Step
Miles to place: 71
Total California Miles:
10,962
