We go to Church before a Tragedy

Sought Church, Las Vegas, Nevada

When you visit a new church every week, you get a lot of swag. I mean, not Oscar-bag-with-a-pendant-from-Tiffany’s level swag, but swag nonetheless. As visitors, we’ve been given lots of pens (with which we take notes during sermons), a fair deal of coffee mugs and water bottles, candy (4” by 10” chocolate bars are the true “fun size”), even t-shirts with church logos. We’ve received DVDs and CDs of sermons that made for good listening at times and fine coasters at others times. We’ve been given good and lame books. But I think the best greeting gift we’ve received was at Sought Church in Las Vegas.

We were asked to fill out a visitors card with whatever information we were “comfortable in giving.” We wrote what we always write, our names and our e-mail (DeanandMindygotochurch@gmail.com . We got out of the habit of putting down our address last year when we didn’t have an address); and then the pastor making the announcement said that  turning in our card got us this great gift: $5 would be given in our names to Caridad, a Las Vegas ministry to the homeless.

We’d spent part of the day before with our friend Kathleen giving cookie to the homeless (Cookies and Hope) and helping a little with a dinner and worship service for the homeless. It was nice to think that gift might go to people we met the day before.

We’d been looking for place to worship the Sunday morning we were in Las Vegas (actually, we were looking for a second place to worship, since we’d gone to Guardian Angel Cathedral earlier that morning). We liked some of the things we read on Sought Church’s website. “With Sought Church, you don’t have to dress up. We’re not concerned with who you voted for in the last election. And, please, don’t feel the need to pretend about anything. Everyone is welcome here -- to share your story, your questions, your doubts, or struggles -- because all of it is valued. You won’t find canned answers, but you will find genuine conversations. From there, we’ll seek together.”

Sought Church is in the Arts District of Las Vegas, a short walk from the motel where we were staying. The Arts District has galleries and theaters, many in converted warehouse space, containing more subtle art than most of what’s found in the Strip. The church rents space in a small theater, setting up every Sunday for 10:00 am worship. Jake Musselman, the pastor, said they’ve come to love the neighborhood and the unique opportunities for ministry it offers.

There was a guest speaker that morning; Stephen Feith, a pastor friend of Jake’s from Madison, Wisconsin. He talked about the challenge of pastoring in that city, the home of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, where of the sixty attempted church plants since the year 2000, only two are still going. But their church has prospered.

Stephen joked, “Jake said I get twenty minutes to speak. Usually I have thirty-three, so I’ll have to speed up.” (He still went over.) After the sermon, there was time to pray; people were encouraged to pray silently.

Because Jake and the leadership of the church promised an hour-long worship service, they didn’t serve communion (which they would normally do). But after the service, they set a ten minute timer and encouraged people to talk to each other. People were encouraged to talk to someone they’d never talked to before, which was easy for us, of course.

During that time, I talked with Pastor Jake. He’s a Nevada native, but he’s not from Las Vegas originally. He’s been in the city for three years now and thinks the best is yet to come. Besides the worship time, the church meets in small groups in homes, and they also meet in homes for supper clubs. They plan to rent a laundromat soon so they can host a free day there for the community.

That morning of worship was about twelve hours before the shooting in Las Vegas. Since then, we’ve received several emails from Jake with great words of encouragement for the congregation. The city already was a place of unique challenges for ministry, but Sought Church seems ready, with God’s grace, for those challenges.

We Go to Church on Saturday Night

Salvation Army Chapel, Las Vegas, Nevada

We certainly weren’t needed to help serve the food. There appeared to be a couple of families with parents and children prepared to serve tortillas along with meat, veggies, and salsa.

Our friend Kathleen had asked if we wanted to go to the dinner with her. She usually gets a team of friends together to serve dinner outside one of the chapels at the Lied Social Services campus of the Salvation Army on the third Saturday night of each month, but this was the fourth Saturday. Another team was serving for the evening, so initially, anyway, we just observed.

The dinners are served outside the chapel, which is surrounded by Salvation Army apartment buildings and other facilities for those in need. The dinner isn’t just for apartment dwellers, though. It’s for anyone who’s hungry. A long line of people were already waiting when we arrived shortly before the 6:00 pm dinner was served.

Estimating how much dinner to prepare can be a challenge -- after all, nobody RSVPs for the weekly event. Guest volume can be affected by anything from weather to when assistance checks arrive. Kathleen said that on her first night of preparing the meal, she greatly underestimated the number of people coming; even though everyone got something, some people still left hungry. She determined to never let that happen again, and she hasn’t

Over a hundred guests were served the night we visited, and they all seemed to enjoy the dinner. (I overheard a man trying to give pointers on how to fold a tortilla to another diner, and she protested, “I know how to fold a taco! I’ve got plenty of Mexicans in my family!”) There were also plenty of desserts (donated by a local grocer).

Shortly after dinner began, a loud argument began between a man and a woman in the line. Ron, who administers the ministry, quickly calmed the unrest. After getting food, the young, slender woman involved came over to tell Kathleen her story.

She asked Kathleen for a place to stay and money. Kathleen suggested the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, but the woman gave an elaborate story of why that wouldn’t work for her. Kathleen couldn’t give the help the woman wanted, but hoped they’d begun a relationship that might lead to something later.

I asked about the woman’s story, and Kathleen said, “She was lying. I know, because when I was in her place, I was a liar.” She knows from experience that alcoholics and drug users lie. But lives can change.

As diners entered, they were invited to stop by a table full of neatly folded clothes, including a number of coats. Ron urged people to pick out clothes, “Winter is coming! You’ll be needing those jackets!” By the time dinner was done, all of the clothes were gone.

There was another chance for people to get clothes if they needed them -- during the meal, Ron announced, “We have new socks available for everyone who stays for tonight’s worship service!”  Some ministries require people to attend a worship service before the meal is served, but this ministry didn’t operate that way. Still, the offer of new, clean socks was generally a powerful incentive to attend the evening service.

Only twenty-two people stayed for the worship service; most people left immediately after eating. Though there was a preacher for the service, the usual worship team couldn’t make it, so we sang an acapella version of the first verse of “Amazing Grace”.

The speaker that evening, Tae Chu, opened with a golfing joke, then spoke about the Lord’s Prayer, then the story of Joseph from Genesis. He concluded with another joke about a symphony conductor.  Ron came forward and gave short Gospel presentation after Tae finished.

When Ron finished, a woman raised her hand, “Ron, I think you should preach like that when people are here. You should stand on a box while people are waiting in line for food.” Ron chuckled, but not a chuckle that seemed to commit to the idea.

While helping with clean-up, I talked to another volunteer named Mike who told me he had had a gambling addiction, but God had saved him. That is why he wanted to help people dealing with other problems. He hoped his story would help others.

I suppose I should make it clear that though this meal and the worship service were on Salvation Army grounds, it wasn’t a Salvation Army ministry, just a group of people trying to help others. Not a work of a church but rather the work of The Church.

Statistics:

Service Length: 1 hour

Sermon Length: 35 minutes

Our Rough Count: 22

Snacks: meal served before worship service

Musicians: none

Songs:“Amazing Grace”

Distance to Church: 3 miles

Open WiFi: no

Tie/Suit Count: none

We go to Mass in Las Vegas

Guardian Angel Cathedral, Las Vegas, Nevada

There are a lot of ways Las Vegas is different from other big cities in the United States -- not just because of what it has (the casinos and strip clubs), but also because of what it doesn’t have. When you drive down the major streets of most cities, you see churches. Sometimes they're old or even dead churches, but they’re there.

When you drive down the best known street in Las Vegas, the portion of South Las Vegas Boulevard known as “The Strip,” you don’t see churches. Sure, there are wedding chapels -- but anyone who works in one will make it quite clear those chapels are not churches. Many people who visit Las Vegas see only their hotel, some casinos, restaurants, and night clubs. When we visited Las Vegas this time, though, we found a church in the shadow of casinos.

Guardian Angel Cathedral, a Roman Catholic Church, is just off South Las Vegas Blvd. You walk out the front door and look straight out at Trump Tower. Like other buildings in the neighborhood, the architecture of Guardian Angel isn’t subtle. The A frame is large, but the cross-topped tower is even taller, with a statue of the Holy Family beneath it. Inside the cathedral, the stained glass windows are elaborate and quite beautiful.

Catholics definitely have an advantage over Protestants when they go to church in a new place. They can go anywhere in the world, and most of the worship service will be what they’re used to. The rituals of the liturgical year will be the same. For those of us who aren’t Catholics, we’re confused. We have to watch other people to know when to sit, when to kneel, when to stand, and what page to turn to in that little paperback book on the back of the pew. By now, Mindy and I have visited enough Catholic churches to get some of it right, but I always wonder what it’s like for visitors with no prior church experience.  

Even among Catholic churches, though, there are differences. A couple hundred people showed up for the 8:00 am Mass at Guardian Angel (You see lots of people on the streets in the afternoon, evening and even 2:00 am Sunday morning, but not so much at breakfast time. Apart from worship services, it’s a rather quiet time around town). This service had a fair deal of singing and the woman leading the singing (the cantor) had a very nice voice.

A part of worship in the Roman Catholic church that can throw some Protestants off is the two offering thing. The first offering goes to who knows what, but then the priest or a deacon up front says, “This morning’s second offering goes to …” some very cool ministry, perhaps to homeless in the neighborhood or hurricane victims or starving people in Africa. As an unprepared visitor, you already put the money you brought into the first offering. It’s frustrating.

The Gospel reading at Guardian Angel that morning (as at Catholic churches throughout the world) was from Matthew 21: 28 - 32, the story of the two brothers. In the story, the father asks the sons to do some work. One says he won’t, but then goes and does the work. The other brother says he will do the work, but then he doesn’t. The priest pointed out that God cares more about what we do than what we say.

Another strange thing is noticing who doesn’t go forward for communion. I don’t go, because I know that in the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is for Catholics who are in good standing. So I stay seated. But I observed people near me who knew when to sit and when to stand and when to kneel and to kick up the kneelers (which makes quite the simultaneous clunking sound), remain in their place rather than going forward. I know why I shouldn’t go, but I always wonder why that person doesn’t go forward.

There are moments during Mass when I feel like an outsider, but when Scripture is read, songs are sung, and even when people are shaking hands around me, I feel like I’m in the catholic Church, Christ’s Church encompassing all who believe in Him.

I hope that particularly this week, when so many in Las Vegas are suffering, grieving, questioning, and seeking, they can find hope in this church.

Statistics

Service Length: 52 minutes

Sermon Length: 7 minutes

Visitor Treatment: Near the end of the service, the priest welcomed visitors and invited them to return next time they were in Las Vegas

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none

Our Rough Count: 220

Snacks: none

Musicians: organ (woman)

Vocals (cantor, woman)

Songs: “Crown Him with Many Crowns”

“Glory to God in the Highest”

“Remember Your Mercies, O Lord”

“Lord, This Time, Change our Hearts”

“Here I am, Lord”

“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God, Almighty”

“Save us, Save us, Savior of the World”

“Amen, Amen, Amen”

“Lamb of God”

“Teach us, O God, to Follow Your Ways”

“Amazing Grace”

“They’ll Know we are Christians by our Love”

Distance to Church: 3 miles

Open WiFi: no

Tie/Suit Count: at least 3 (all the ushers wore suits)

Church Website: gaclv.org

About those Las Vegas Weddings

"So, do people have a choice about whether to have a religious or secular wedding ceremony?" I asked the woman at Cupid's Wedding Chapel.

"Well, we're not a church. We have a variety of people who do services for us that are licensed by the state to perform weddings. They have all kinds of backgrounds."

So I took that as a "No," I guess.

For some reason, people choose to have weddings at the "chapels" rather than the courthouse a few blocks away. The chapels often look architecturally like churches but they don't have crosses or Bibles. They often have doves, though. Maybe not Holy Spirit doves, but doves.

Many of the casinos have wedding chapels, too. People are even married at the Harley Davidson Showroom.

You hear about young people eloping to Vegas. You hear about people getting drunk and married in Vegas (see The Hangover... on second thought, don't.) Sometimes you hear about celebrities getting married in Vegas, commencing three days to three weeks of matrimonial bliss.

There's also the story of my parents, who lived in Los Angeles and didn't think they could afford a formal wedding. They decided to get married in Las Vegas and took my mom's parents along (my grandfather's only vacation).

They went to A Wee Kirk o' the Heather Wedding Chapel (as seen in at least one major motion picture). The officiant at their wedding invited them to come to his church the next day. He introduced them at the worship service as the first couple that had taken him up on his invitation.

You know these Las Vegas weddings never last. Theirs lasted only a little over fifty years.

Las Vegas Rescue Mission and First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Las Vegas

Las Vegas Rescue Mission

"Would you like some homemade cookies?" I asked the woman walking along North Las Vegas Blvd. 

"You can take those cookies," she answered, "And stick them up..." Well, I won't complete her sentence. But I'd much rather eat the cookies than do what she suggested.

Mindy and I went out Saturday morning with our new friend Kathleen Quirk to deliver cookies to street people in the less touristy locations in Las Vegas.

Kathleen has been baking cookies and handing them out for about four years now. It wasn't long before that Kathleen was living on these streets herself, but now she's the kitchen director of the kitchen at Las Vegas Rescue Mission. I had read online about her ministry, Cookies and Hope, in an article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We connected on Facebook, and I asked her if we could join her on her cookie run.

And most of the street people, unlike the woman mentioned above (who didn't seem to be having a good day) were quite appreciative of the cookies. Kathleen says that when she was on the street she would pray for someone to come her way and give something to her. She hopes she is the answer to prayers made by people on the street.

I asked Kathleen about her favorite memory of handing out cookies, and she told us about the time a man put a gun to her head. Initially she'd met a young woman on the street and started a conversation, giving the woman a business card with her phone number, so the woman could call her she ever wanted to get off the street. Not too long after, the woman called. Kathleen went to help the woman. A man was there, probably the woman's pimp, and he put a gun to Kathleen's head and told her to stay away from his girl. Days later, Kathleen was driving and saw the woman, who got into Kathleen's car. Kathleen called someone who could take the woman to safety out of state. That woman returned to her family and is doing well today, partly due to some cookies.

Another woman that Kathleen met in her cookie ministry is now in the rehabilitation program at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. We met Nikki as she was sorting clothes for the Rescue Mission while we were taking a tour of the facilities.

We saw the entry rooms to the men's dorms and the women's dorms (the dorms themselves are kept private from visitors). We saw classrooms for those in rehabilitation programs, including a room full of computers that people farther along in the program can use to research employment opportunities.

We saw the dining room that every night feeds five to six hundred people. (There's no worship attendance requirement to eat the evening meal, but those spending the night are required to attend the evening worship service). We heard that the Sunday evening service open to the people is very well attended, usually filling up all the seats. There's a second Sunday evening "family" service for those in the Mission's program.

Mindy and I attended that service, at 7:30 pm Sunday evening. When we went inside, a gentleman in the program let Mindy know where the seating for women was as she wandered toward the men's section. (We later learned that married couples and families were allowed to sit together in one section, but it was fun for me to sit with the guys, and Mindy enjoyed sitting with Kathleen and the women in their section.)

As the service began, everyone was encouraged to stand, though a few guys in the back row with me stayed seated. The two guys on guitars who led the worship had graduated from the program years earlier, but return almost every Sunday night. A ninety year old man named Bob led a time of prayer. Bob has been a part of the ministry of the LVRM for the last thirty years. He prayed for blessings on President Obama, the director of the Mission, and the pastor of the Mission, Jeff. Afterward, Pastor Jeff came forward and told the congregation they'd start the year strong, as he said, "God is good" and the congregation said, "All the time!" Jeff then said, "All the time," and the congregation responded with "God is good!"

Jeff read the passage from Mark 8 about Jesus healing the blind man. In the story, the blind man is not immediately healed completely. At first he sees "men looking like trees." Jeff said that many of us have a fuzzy picture of Jesus. We need to go to God's word to see Jesus clearly. He urged people to make a commitment to read God's Word and pray in the New Year to come. Appropriately, the service concluded with the chorus, Open the Eyes of my Heart. I must admit that not many people talked to us before or after the service, although we were greeted as we entered. Most people there knew each other, and we were obvious outsiders. It was good enough to watch the members of the program greet each other with love and good spirits.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 1 minute

Sermon Length: 25 minutes

Visitor Treatment: we were greeted as we came in, but other than Mindy's being directed toward the women's section, no particular attention was paid to us as guests

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none

Our Rough Count: 98

Probable Ushers' Count: As people came in, their nametags were scanned and their pictures went up on the screen in front -- so the attendance count would be quite accurate if they added the pastor (who told us he'd forgotten his nametag), Kathleen and us. 

Snacks: none

Musicians: all male: drums, electric guitar, electric bass, and percussion/tambourine. The two guitar players traded off leading songs

Songs: Come, Now is the Time to Worship

            Heart of Worship

            Blessed be Your Name

            New Year

            Open the Eyes of my Heart

Miles to church: 12

Miles from start: 85

Total 2016 Miles: 703

Church website: http://www.vegasrescue.org/

 First Christian Church

Mindy and I had been warmly greeted already that day when we went to the morning worship service at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Las Vegas . We were meeting Tracy and Troy Morris at the service, friends of friends from Healdsburg Community Church. Tracy had been a part of First Christian Church for most of her life. Now she and Troy are part of the leadership (elders and deacons were installed during the service; Troy was ordained as an elder).

Since it was Epiphany Sunday, Christmas continued in the worship service. Pastor Steve Willis was wearing a white stole with his robe for the season, and I was happy to have one more week of Christmas carols. The morning sermon was pretty much directed toward us, even though Steve hadn't known we were coming. The title was "God is in the Relocation Business," and our life this year is all about moving as we head for a new state every week.

The two places we worshiped Sunday, though in the same city, seemed like two different worlds. But it was good to see God present in both.

Statistics:

Service Length: 1 hour 17 minutes

Sermon Length: 17 minutes

Visitor Treatment: we were greeted as we entered; our new friends Tracy and Troy introduced us to several people. Mindy signed a guest book near the door to the sanctuary, and Dean registered us as visitors on the attendance sheet in the pew.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none

Our Rough Count: 102

Probable Ushers' Count: 125

Snacks: We arrived too late to visit the church's coffee shop, Holy Grounds, which is open between the two worship services (from 9:00 am to 10:30 am)

Musicians: the choir director (a man) played the organ and a synthesizer; there were 12 women and 9 men in the robed choir

Songs: All Creatures of our God and King

            Joy to the World

            Children Welcome in the Name of Jesus

            Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying

            (choir only) Seven-fold Amen

            (choir only) He is Born

            Thy Word

            Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow

            We Three Kings

            Go Tell it on the Mountain

Miles to church: 12

Miles from start: 686

Total 2016 Miles: 40

Church website: http://www.fcclv.org/