We go to a 100th birthday party

First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, Seattle, Washington
After celebrating Kalos Church's first birthday recently, we were excited to participate in a 100th birthday party last Sunday. First Lutheran of West Seattle commemorated the event by following a bagpiper from the site of the church's first building.

Along with banners, crosses, and the church choir, the congregation gathered in the sanctuary for hymns, Scripture readings, a brief sermon, and Communion, then went outside again for an official group photo.

Afterward, all were invited inside to enjoy a Kransekake reception and reminiscences wth old and new friends. We were honored to be part of this historic gathering.

We go to a comedy club for a party

Kalos Church, Bellevue, Washington
Call me a Grinch or a Scrooge or a killjoy, but I’m not usually a fan of birthday parties for one year olds, especially when it’s a big event with dozens of people gathering, some bringing their own one- or two-year-olds who are as baffled as the birthday child by the loud music and popping balloons and candle flames approaching a small young face. Why throw a party when the guest of honor has no idea what’s happening?

Even I’ll admit, though, it’s a very different thing when the one-year-old birthday party is for a church. so we were happy to join the celebration of one year of ministry for Kalos Church. The church meets in shopping mall (something we’ve encountered before); the web site directions read next to the movie theater and above Lucky Strike (a bowling alley). The church meets in a comedy club, the Parlor Live Comedy Club.

The marquee inside the mall announced the birthday party with video of folks from the congregation acting a bit silly. A woman carrying a child greeted us and when she learned we were visiting, gave us a tour of the rooms the church uses and showed us where the restrooms were. Once in the sanctuary/theater space, we saw pictures of comedians who have appeared in the club, but in honor of the church’s birthday celebration, there were also balloons, birthday banners, and large trays of cupcakes. I’m guessing the coffee and bagels available as we came into the space were standard fare. Like the children’s spaces in the club, the decorations were all the more impressive because they have to be set up and taken down every Sunday.

A number of people greeted us, and -- more impressively -- seemed eager to engage in conversation. I talked to Andrew, the director of music and one of the founding members of the young church. I asked him what he thought was one of the best things about Kalos Church, and he said, “Everyone here wants to be together; to be friends, not just friendly.” (As the morning went on, I heard others use these same words, a motto for the church.)

We attended the first ever 9:45 am service in the life of the church. During the first year, the church had only one worship service on Sunday mornings; now there are two (the other starts at 11:30 am). Both seemed well attended that morning (I peeked in the door at the second service). As the 9:45 service began, more chairs were pulled out of a closet. After a little singing, a worship leader said, “Sometimes it’s like passing through heaven and hell to make it here at 9:45 AM on a Sunday morning… Over the next hour, we’ll have singing, communion, sharing a message.”

There was an announcement about the Crash Course that takes place after the worship service, where staff and volunteers help guests understand the purpose and ministries of the church and how they can be involved. Crash Course includes a free catered lunch (we went. They served nachos, ginger beef with rice, and toast points that morning).

During a video of highlights of the church’s first year, people chuckled as they recognized themselves and friends. After a short look back at the church’s launch on September 17, 2017 (with 200 in attendance), Pastors Pradeepan and Amreitha Jeeva led the congregation in singing “Happy Birthday” to themselves and each other.

Dave, who manages The Parlor Bellevue and who’s the church’s contact person, was called up for recognition. He often works late on Saturday nights (it’s a club, after all), but he’s always there to open the space for church set-up before 7:30 am. The pastors thanked him and reminded the congregation to thank and honor him. (He was also given a gift; no idea what it was).

Pradeepan preached a sermon that was a continuation of their series “Dream Again” (based on Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”) He said that many of us are living without hope, but that God wants us to know that our best days are still ahead.

He shared some of their dreams with the beginning of the church. The church needed a lot of things, so they set up an Amazon wish list. Out of the blue came a request that Amreitha should meet someone in a park, with their young son. With trepidation, she went and met another mother of a small child. They talked about parenting, and Amreitha talked about their dreams for the church. That evening they got a message. The woman she’d met in the park told her to take a look at the wish list. She had purchased $40,000 in needed sound and audio visual equipment, the biggest items on their list -- including the Nord Stage 3 keyboard. Pradeepan mentioned the Nord several times, I think because it’s fun to say “Nord.”

He got to the text of sermon, Mark 8: 22 - 25, the story where Jesus heals the blind man by spitting in the dirt and putting the mud in the man’s eyes. One of the points Pradeepan made was that miracles are messy. He went on to talk about churches being messy places and told about being hurt himself in the church, but also told how God had healed him in the church.

Pradeepan shared some of his own story. His family were Hindu refugees from Sri Lanka, who came to live in a trailer park in Minnesota. He grew up with many struggles and doubts, growing up in this strange, cold land. At 17 he was suicidal, but he found hope in a Christian church, and he found Jesus.

I appreciated that there was a lot of talk about Jesus in the church. “Jesus is a big deal to us. If you remember just one thing from this morning, it’s Jesus is the best.” The name of the church, Kalos, comes from the Greek word for beauty. It , and the name was chosen to “make known the beauty of Christ, even when churches have done ugly things… The beauty of Jesus in a comedy club is no joke.”

I have to agree. The beauty of Jesus is worth celebrating, worth a party (even for a first birthday).

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.