We Go to Church without Even Thinking of Falling Asleep

Saints Community Church of God in Christ, Fresno
We were there for the early morning shift -- that’s what one of the worship leaders called the 8:00 am worship at Saints Community Church.  The woman offering the morning prayer gave thanks to the Lord for getting us up in the morning, because we couldn’t do it on our own -- though I had not, technically, gotten up that morning.

I’d just started working my night audit shifts at the Best Western, and I’d gotten home shortly after 6:30 am, so I was staying up rather than getting up for the service. It still seemed like the Lord’s work rather than my own. Fortunately, it was a short walk to church from our apartment. That’s sort of our theme this month: churches we can walk to. Saint’s is just a block and a half from our apartment.

We were greeted warmly by many people as we arrived. The usher made sure that we got bulletins and a packet of visitor information. (The usher also stood midway down the center aisle, facing the back of the church, for the first half of the worship service, ready to help with any needs.)

After a call for intercessory prayer, people were encouraged to divide into groups of three to five people (though our group had six) to pray. Some prayer requests were announced from the front -- members and friends of the church who were sick, hospitalized, or grieving. Within each small group, additional prayer requests were raised. In our group, we all wanted prayer for our families.

Early in the service, visitors were invited to stand, and we were greeted by everybody around us. The usher gave us the visitor packet and asked us to fill out a card, saying he’d be back for it so that we could be personally greeted by the pastor. The usher came back just before the offering, while Dr. B.E. McAlister, the church's pastor, was announcing that they were raising money for a new sanctuary -- one that would “allow us to worship more efficiently,” he said. The pastor added, “We’re not expecting all the funds to come from hot wing dinners and chitlin cook offs.” Two men stood in front of the church with gold buckets, and at the direction of more ushers, people lined up to walk forward to give their offerings.

In honor of Black History Month, a church leader read a poem his sister had written about her heritage. The poem referred to the Underground Railroad, George Washington Carver, and Brown vs. Board of Education.

As the pastor was introduced, it was noted that his picture had been in the newspaper that week. He was welcomed with applause, and verbal encouragement of the pastor continued throughout the sermon:

“Talk, Bishop!”

“Yes sir!”

“Tell it!”

The congregation continued to encourage Dr. B. E. McAlister along as he preached on a phrase from I Corinthians 7:29, “The time is short.”  The Bishop was true to his word when he said, “I’m going to talk for a few minutes about time being short.” (Which is good. There are many preachers who might take a passage about the time being short and then talk for a really long time.)

“I have attended more home goings then I ever had in a very short time,” Dr. McAllister said.  “I’ve gone to seven homegoings in the last two months, and three more are pending…This morning I want to ask ‘What if?’ What would you do if you knew you had only one year left?”

He encouraged the congregation to think about what’s really important. He said we must be determined to accept Christ. He suggested we would be amazed how many people would attend the 6:00 am prayer meeting if they knew they only had one year to live. (Saints Church has early morning prayer meetings Monday through Thursday.)

He said that if we only had a year left to live, we would right the wrongs we had done. “But we shouldn’t wait until we are sick to do this, can I have a witness? None of us knows whether we have a day left, let alone a year. Let’s make changes now!

“The Bible tries to warn us, to give us a heads up! But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! If Jesus would come now, would you be ready? We pray that our spiritual houses would be in order.”

People were invited to come down to the altar for prayer as the sermon concluded, and one man came down to pray with several who waited there.

Afterward several people invited us to coffee and snacks in the fellowship hall. One women insisted, “It’s great coffee.” Mindy appreciated the coffee (I do not), but I enjoyed the breakfast burrito. In the same area where snacks were served, groceries were available for those who needed them (a woman noticed Mindy looking at the food and invited her to fill out the paperwork required to take the food home, which we appreciated.)

We talked to Michael, a young man home from U. C. Berkeley for President’s Day weekend. He spoke with great fondness of Saint’s, but he told us he’d found a church at school and was active in CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ).

Michael was planning to be back in Fresno again the next weekend, because the church would be celebrating Super Sunday College Outreach. This is an annual event at the church, when college representatives come to the church to provide young people with information and encouragement to seek higher education. Michael’s leaders from Cru would also be coming to speak. We wished a bit that we’d be around for that Sunday service, but we liked the one we came for.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Sermon Length: 14 minutesVisitor Treatment: We were greeted frequently as we entered, during the greeting time, and after the worship service. We received a visitor packet and turned in a visitor card.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none We got a letter from Pastor Bruce McAlister about a week after our visit.

Our Rough Count: 49

Probable Ushers’ Count: 60

Snacks: breakfast burritos, coffee, hot water for tea or hot chocolate, bagels, bananas, muffins and other pastries, juice

Musicians: organ (man)
drums (man)
tamborine (woman)
electric bass (woman)
keyboards (man)
vocals (2 women, 1 man)

Songs: "I Come to the Garden Alone"
"Walk with me, Lord"
"Glory to His Name"
"Let it Rise"
"Praise Him"
"He Brought me Out of Darkness"
"Oh, I Want to See Him"
"Come to Jesus Just Now"

Miles to Church: a block and a half or so

Church Website: http://www.saintscommunity.org

WiFi Availability: none

Tie/Suit Count: more than half the men wore suits and ties; a few also wore hats

We Go to Church in North Dakota

The rites that usher a young person into adulthood certainly differ from culture to culture. If you’re a young man living on the Pacific Island of Vanuatu, you dive from a hundred foot tower with a vine tied to your ankle to keep you from hitting the ground. If you’re a boy in the Hamar tribe of Ethiopia, you will leap on top of a cow, jumping from one cow to another. And if you grow up in a Lutheran Church, you might have to speak in front of the congregation on Confirmation Sunday.

We were very happy when we realized it would be Confirmation Sunday the morning we attended the United Lutheran Church of Almont. Not only that, it would also be Reformation Sunday, marking the time Martin Luther broke with the Roman Catholic Church -- not only the start of the Lutheran Church, but all Protestant denominations. This particular Reformation Sunday begins the 500th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Confirmation Day, the day young men and women become part of the church, is a big deal in many Lutheran families. On this day three young men, Kyler, Caleb, and Noah, were to become part of the church (or celebrate “the affirmation of their baptism”) as the conclusion of a two year process of classes and study. The average age of confirmation is 14. (Young women also are confirmed into church membership, but none were this day.)

The young men solemnly walked together to the front of the church along with the clergyman, Pastoral Intern William Dodd. During the service we sang songs that were chosen by the young men or their parents. At the Affirmation of Baptism, Caleb, Noah, and Kyler shared a Bible verse and spoke about why they found that verse meaningful. (I talked with Noah after the service and asked him whether he liked speaking in front of people. He said it wasn’t his favorite thing, but it was worth it to become part of the church.)

Kyler spoke about Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”). His essay on the verse also appeared in the bulletin, and it began with these words, “This verse is special to me because it is saying if you believe in Christ our Lord, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.”

Noah’s verse was Hebrews 11:6 (“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him”). He said in his essay that he chose that passage because it “is like a guideline of how to enter heaven.”  

Like Kyler, Caleb chose Phil. 4:13 saying, “When I think I can’t do something, I think of this verse… I can bring any problem to God.”

The parents and sponsors of the young men were brought forward for a time of prayer. Kyler, Caleb and Noah affirmed their faith in God and their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Before communion, Intern Dodd said, “You don’t have to be a member here to receive the bread and the cup. You just need to want to be free of that ball and chain of sin” (a reference to the “ball and chain” he used as an illustration earlier in the children’s sermon). The confirmands received communion first and then helped serve. Noah dismissed congregants from their rows to come forward. Kyler served the cup, and Caleb collected the empty cups. Together, they served communion to Intern Dodd.

The pews were quite full; a number of visitors were in attendance to support the confirmands. (The population of Almont according to the 2010 census was 122. I counted 89 people in church.) A number of small children in church happily made their presence known throughout the service. Teri, in the row in front of us, said, “This is the most children’s noise I’ve heard for years.” Mindy agreed with her that “children’s noise” was a good thing. (Later, we heard another man saying of the children, “I like it. The more noise the kids make the better.”)

A potluck downstairs followed the service, and several people invited us to join in the meal. My eye was drawn to a dessert tower of rings that reminded me of Kristina Kringles, one of my favorite desserts.

I had an opportunity to talk to the pastoral intern during the potluck. When one hears “intern,” one might think of a young person, but William Dodd is a man with grown children (His daughter, whom I also met at the potluck, lives almost 50 miles away in Richardton). Dodd works full time for the state of North Dakota in a federally funded program to “reclaim” old coal mines. For many mines that “reclamation process,” we were told, is filling them with concrete to make them safe.

Dodd has been serving at Almont for nearly three years while also taking seminary classes. Graduation and ordination are both in his near future. He is also looking forward to retiring from his state job and putting more time into the church.

The Sims-Almont Lutheran Parish meets at the Almont church only every other week. The alternate weeks, the congregation meets in nearby Sims, a ghost town. All that remains of the place is the Sims Scandinavian Lutheran Church (built in 1884) and the parsonage next door, which was the church’s first location.

During lunch I sat next to Grant, a native of the community. I asked him what kept him at the church. “The fellowship, this is my home church. I feel like I’m in the community of God when I’m in this church. I’ve grown up with these people. I’ve a prejudice for the Lutheran church, particularly the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).”

12 year old Claire stopped by our table, and I asked her what she liked about the church. Someone teasingly asked her if she liked the singing, and she gave an emphatic “No!” She said she like the new carpeting and the new TV installed on the wall of the room we were in. I asked her what the TV was used for, and she said they’d used it to watch Sunday School slides. I asked her what she liked about Sunday School, and she said she liked learning about God. She said she was looking forward to beginning the confirmation process.

I doubt we’ll make it back in two years for Claire’s affirmation of her baptism, but I’m sure it will be a wonderful service followed by delicious desserts.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 26 minutes

Sermon Length: 9 minutes

Visitor Treatment: During the passing of the peace, people all around us greeted us warmly. Because it was a communion Sunday, there was a card in the pew for visitors to fill out (with the name of their home church to be written on the back) and drop in the offering plate or hand to an usher before taking communion

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none In early January, we got a lovely personal email from Pastor Bill Dodd thanking us for visiting (and for this post) and inviting us to come again

Our Rough Count: 89

Probable Ushers’ Count: 95

Snacks: a bountiful potluck, including a traditional North Dakota soup (knoephla) and delicious warm ham and cheese sandwiches (as well as coffee, water, and the aforementioned desserts)

Musicians: piano (woman)

Songs: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”

“The Old Rugged Cross”

“Kyrie”

“This is the Feast”

“Alleluia, Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?”

“Were you There?”

“Here I am, Lord”

“The Great Thanksgiving”

“The Church’s One Foundation” (piano alone during Communion)

“For the Bread Which You Have Broken” (piano alone during Communion)

“Let Us Break Bread Together” (piano alone during Communion)

“Amazing Grace” (piano alone during Communion)

“Thank the Lord and Sing His Praise”

“Seek ye First”

Distance to Church: 3 blocks

Miles from Start: 40,640

Total 2016 Miles: 40,354

Church Website: http://wndsynod.org/congregations/

Oakhurst Evangelical Free Church

In general, worship at Evangelical Free Churches is rather sedate. Amidst the congregation at the 10:00 am worship service at the Free Church in Oakhurst there were some who worshiped with hands raised, including the senior pastor who raised a single hand. But in the back of the sanctuary, one man danced with abandon. And when each song ended he clapped loudly when others seemed to feel worshipful quiet was the appropriate response.

We came to visit this particular church because it's the current church home of Kevin Lockwood, a former youth group student (his wife, Sarah, had graduated from high school before we met her). After the service I asked Kevin about the man in the back of the sanctuary. Apparently, three years ago he was a recipient of the church's outreach to the homeless. At that time he was without work as well. Now not only is the man working but he's buying a home and has regained part time custody of his son. Speaks well of the church's ministry of outreach.

I recognized the pastor during worship because he had introduced himself beforehand. I guess he was curious about strangers taking pictures of the outside and inside of his church. Pastor Bob has been at the church 23 years. When he came to the church, he was a truck driver. He'd pastored before, but it had been a bad experience and he had left ministry for a time. He came to worship at Oakhurst and was eventually asked to serve as senior pastor.

The worship service opened with the hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," a reminder that Easter was just a couple of weeks away. The youth pastor led the worship in a mixture of traditional hymns and contemporary choruses (what's called "blended" in the ecclesiological literature). Along with the two guitars and piano to accompany the singing there was a beat box and a hand drum (bigger than a bongo). I enjoyed the worship and was especially happy with the concluding chorus of "Shout to the Lord", a song that often leads me to sing louder than I probably should.

During the greeting time, we met the couple sitting in front of us, who had led the youth ministry of the church a couple of decades ago -- before the church hired their first full time youth minister (there have been three or four since then). Sometimes on these onetime church visits, I meet people I'd like to get to know, but I know I won't. Guess that's one of the many things heaven is for.

Kevin and Sarah's kids joined a good group of children who sang along and motioned to musical accompaniment. The great thing about children's performances in church is no one is worried about getting it just right. In fact, the things that go a little wrong just make it better. After they sang, the kids left for their worship time.

A little later, the overhead had a message to dismiss the kids to children's church. (The overhead also let us know when it was time to be seated after the greeting time. We didn't get a picture of the slide with helpful arrows pointing down in case we weren't sure where our chairs were.)

The sermon was Part 8 in a series, "God's Design for Relationships," and the scripture used was Ephesians 5: 23 - 33. The topic was marriage. Over the last couple of decades, when the sermon topic is marriage, I've come to expect a disclaimer addressed to single people in the congregation, assuring them that since marriage was an image of Christ and His church, they would benefit from the sermon as well. But there was no such disclaimer. Later in the sermon there was an address to singles, advising them what to look for in a spouse. But the call for some to singlehood that Jesus taught in Matthew 19 and Paul in I Corinthians 7 wasn't mentioned. Perhaps it was in other weeks of the series.

Pastor Bob encouraged the encouraged the congregation to catch up on the rest of the series from CDs that were available or from streaming on the church website. He said this showed the internet was good for something. Good to know.

The theme of the sermon was how the husband was to serve his wife and by providing her he would find satisfaction in life. (He referred both to the saying, "Happy wife, happy life" and "If momma ain't happy, nobody's happy".)  He said the "buck stops" at the husband who is the coach, the CEO of the family.

From the sermon notes: "The man who's willing to trust Christ to create that kind of atmosphere and that kind of love in his home will be the satisfying lover of his wife and children." But the pastor pointed out said that marriage and the family were currently under attack from the world ("every day a liberal judge issues a ruling against marriage"). Again from the notes: "Matthew 16:18, 'the gates of hell will not overpower' that home" and "God's promise still remains for the wife who's willing to be subject to her own husband, and for the husband who loves his wife as Christ loves the church!"

He said that, sadly, many marriages that don't follow these teachings "start as ideal, become an ordeal and then people look for a new deal." He said instead we should "Do it once, and do it right!" I wondered how those words would sound to the widowed or especially to those who were divorced.

At the conclusion of the service we heard the happy voices of older children outside the sanctuary door. We went downstairs to the nursery and children's department to pick up Kevin and Sarah's younger kids. They DID NOT want to leave, which as it should be for kids in church.

Stats:

Service Length: 1 hour 32 minutes

Sermon Length: 46 minutes

Visitor Treatment: We were recognized as visitors in the lobby; there was a greeting time during worship, and visitors were encouraged to get a welcome folder from ushers. The packets contained a tract, information about the church, a pen and a visitor card to fill out and drop in the offering later in the service

Our Rough Count: 165

Probable Ushers' Count: 190

Snacks: Coffee and tea right inside the front door of the building

Songs: Christ the Lord is Risen Today,

            Lead me to the Cross

            Cornerstone

            There is a Fountain

         You are my King

         Shout to the Lord

Miles to place:  259 miles

Total California Miles: 6,060 miles

We go to church...er, churchome.

Churchome, Seattle (Downtown or possibly Belltown), Washington
Robert offered me the seat next to him. I thanked him, but pointed to Mindy in the row ahead and said I was sitting with her. It was greeting time during the beginning of the worship service at Churchome in downtown Seattle. His offer was a little thing, but I appreciated it.

For nearly four years, Mindy and I have been professional church visitors. (Not “professional” meaning getting paid for it, but in the sense of commitment. We’ve been visiting churches and ministries most weeks since August of 2014, and writing about it since November of that year.) Almost every Sunday, we’ve walked into a new place and seen all new faces. Sometimes people acknowledge us and sometimes they don’t. It’s worth noting when people do a good job of greeting visitors, and Churchome did a very good job, with me especially.

We visited on a Sunday evening and found (free!) parking just around the corner. As we approached the building, I noticed people smoking outside, which is something I’m happy to see. I’m not advocating the use of tobacco or tobacco products here -- the surgeon general is right about these things -- but seeing smokers outside tells me that people here aren’t afraid of being judged for smoking. (There are certainly plenty of places where this would be the case.)

The first thing I noticed in the lobby was a set-up for what looked like a photo shoot. I found out it was part of the church’s promotion for small group ministries. I told Carley, one of the women hosting the station, about our project of visiting churches, and we talked about what she liked about Churchome. She said, “The community; it’s easy to become a part of things.”

I went inside the sanctuary to take some pictures. After a bit, I just stood in the back, observing. Kellon, whose name tag identified him as a church greeter, came over. I told him we were first-time visitors and why we were visiting. He said he always looks for people who are alone (as I appeared to be) to say “Hello.” That night he’d gone to chat with a man sitting alone and found out the man had just graduated from the Salvation Army’s rehabilitation program. They had a good, ten-minute talk.

As the service began, a woman welcomed everyone and introduced the pastor, Judah Smith, who was giving the evening message via tape. Which is why the evening crowd was greeted with “Good morning, church! It’s a big day; it’s game day. That’s why everyone came to the 10:30 service. Everyone’s welcome unless you don’t cheer for the Seahawks.” (The home team cheering even continued in the pastoral prayer asking for God to “Be with the young men in green and blue in Colorado”. Which sounded odd -- the game was over, and the Seahawks had already lost to the Broncos.)

Churchome is a multi-campus congregation, with four locations in the area (including Bothell, Kirkland and the University District), and one in Los Angeles.

The message came from Matthew 10 (which was interesting because that had been the text the week before at Elim Baptist). That’s the passage where Jesus said, “I didn’t come to bring peace but a sword.” Judah Smith said it was one of the most challenging passages he’s ever preached.

Judah talked about our need to put Jesus above everything. Bringing in the story of Mary and Martha, he said one of our problems in the church is “doing things for God while we are thinking of ourselves… Do you know why you think God owes you? Because you’re doing things for God while thinking about yourself. This is why weird things happen in the church: gossip, backstabbing, infighting.” If we put Jesus first, other things fall in line.

After the message, the worship team led singing -- the opposite order from most services we’ve attended where the sermon comes tends to come as the concluding part. At the conclusion of the service we were told, “Thank you for finding parking or Ubering; how ever you got here. Thank you for taking part of your Sunday for us...You belong here. In a world of a lot of bad news, we are here to tell you about the love of Jesus.”

People who had questions about the church or faith were encouraged to go to the “Next Steps Bar” in the lobby, and he added, “We don’t have the word ‘bar’ just to be trendy and cool.”  (For the record, we go to bars and write about them just to be trendy and cool.)

People were encouraged to also check out the small groups station in the lobby, “Because at Churchome, we don’t just do Sundays together, we live life together.”

People truly made an effort to make us feel at home at Churchome, and I’m pretty sure they would have done so even if they’d known we were 49ers fans. Pretty sure.