Church Three

May 8, Mother’s Day

Church #3

It had to happen sooner or later. Today I went to a “mega-church,” a massive auditorium-like sanctuary, with two giant screens, the worship service being filmed (live-streamed, maybe?), a street-clothed choir which sang at least 5 songs. This was also a diverse audience (congregation just doesn’t seem like the right noun), age- and race-wise, and it was also diverse up on the chancel (stage?).

As usual for me, I could not tell the difference between the songs (hymns? no they were not hymns), as I always feel Christian music sounds bland and similar from song to song.

I wrote down a lyric – “I will not have shame for you are with me.” I have always felt that “When I have shame, you are with me” makes more sense to me, means more to me. I have never felt that believing in a higher power meant that certain things would not/never happen to me.

An analogy came to me – as teeny-bopper/bubble-gum music is to folk music, as “feel good” is to “think”, that is how this type of service compares to a (to me) more thoughtful, thought-provoking, even doubt-filled worship experience.

The service itself was interesting – no bulletin, no liturgy, just sing sing sing and then offering and a message, and immediately after the message, the doors are flung open and we all scuttle away (well, I scuttled away). The references to the outside world were not to political or geopolitical realities or events, but to poverty and mission efforts (India, building schools, sending a workgroup to Alabama after the tornadoes). The sole abortion reference was in a prayer for peace for those experiencing some kind of suffering.

The pastor is a dynamic preacher, sometimes erupting into almost belligerent sounding thunderous statements and exhortations. I caught a phrase that has worried me all week – or I have worried it – “God needs you to have more than enough so you can help the one who does not have enough.” This bothers me so much, I cannot even adequately explain how the logic bothers me. This statement for me equates to, “God wants some people to not have enough, so you who have more than enough can learn to be generous.” Hmmmm…..so in my head I say, “God wants everybody to have enough.”

Then of course the thought comes to me, how does any of us know what God wants? For sure? And wouldn’t any of our statements about that say more about us than about God?