(no subject)
I went to a different church than usual today. Nick and I went to the Auburn Methodist Church because Nick was very uncomfortable with East Auburn Baptist Church. While I do adore that church and still will try to be going on Saturday nights, they suck really badly when it comes to LGBT issues and with the fact that Nick is transitioning, she is incredibly uncomfortable there.
It was rather different than what I am used to. East Auburn's 11am service is laid back, there are no pews, everyone wears jeans (seeing someone in a suite is just plain weird), there is a worship band, and all the singing usually happens at the start.
Church was at 10 so we left the apartment at around 9:45am, in jeans and t shirts. I really don't think that God cares how I dress as long as it is modest. We get there and go in and find out that its rather small. People know that you are new. There were pews and besides children, I felt like Nick and I might be the youngest people in that room, we were definitely the least fancy dressed. There were hymns, which is expected and a lot of sitting and standing and reciting words. There were lit candles and an actual altar. All of that was fine, it was nice and participatory.
The two big differences I saw were the sermon and the lack of people with Bibles.
I figured out why people didn't have bibles pretty quickly. The sermon was based on 1 set of verses and those were read by a person in front of the congregation. The sermon never mentioned another Bible verse, there was no turning back and forth to different passages.
The sermon also had a lot of other differences to what I am used to. And these differences were FANTASTIC. The minister was FEMALE and she talked about white privilege and social justice and class. I was sad about the fact that she didn't use that many Bible verses to back up what she was saying but I felt like I wasn't the only person in the room that cared about social justice. I felt like I wasn't the only person in the room that it was totes fine that a lady be a leader in the church.
I did miss knowing what to do and where to go, and I did miss being dressed like everyone else and easy to sing worship music and feeling like everything that was being said was FIRMLY placed in scripture. Even thought I missed that I will be back next week.
Nick is not someone who believes in God and if she is willing to go to church with me I am willing to sacrifice some comfort and feeling of belonging in order to go to a place where she might hear God's voice. On top of that, I really think that this church is much more suited to my views on social justice, gender, and diversity.
So for now it looks like I will be rocking two churches a week.
It was rather different than what I am used to. East Auburn's 11am service is laid back, there are no pews, everyone wears jeans (seeing someone in a suite is just plain weird), there is a worship band, and all the singing usually happens at the start.
Church was at 10 so we left the apartment at around 9:45am, in jeans and t shirts. I really don't think that God cares how I dress as long as it is modest. We get there and go in and find out that its rather small. People know that you are new. There were pews and besides children, I felt like Nick and I might be the youngest people in that room, we were definitely the least fancy dressed. There were hymns, which is expected and a lot of sitting and standing and reciting words. There were lit candles and an actual altar. All of that was fine, it was nice and participatory.
The two big differences I saw were the sermon and the lack of people with Bibles.
I figured out why people didn't have bibles pretty quickly. The sermon was based on 1 set of verses and those were read by a person in front of the congregation. The sermon never mentioned another Bible verse, there was no turning back and forth to different passages.
The sermon also had a lot of other differences to what I am used to. And these differences were FANTASTIC. The minister was FEMALE and she talked about white privilege and social justice and class. I was sad about the fact that she didn't use that many Bible verses to back up what she was saying but I felt like I wasn't the only person in the room that cared about social justice. I felt like I wasn't the only person in the room that it was totes fine that a lady be a leader in the church.
I did miss knowing what to do and where to go, and I did miss being dressed like everyone else and easy to sing worship music and feeling like everything that was being said was FIRMLY placed in scripture. Even thought I missed that I will be back next week.
Nick is not someone who believes in God and if she is willing to go to church with me I am willing to sacrifice some comfort and feeling of belonging in order to go to a place where she might hear God's voice. On top of that, I really think that this church is much more suited to my views on social justice, gender, and diversity.
So for now it looks like I will be rocking two churches a week.