Churchy things
For the first time in years, I've been going to church services. It was a strange and uncomfortable experience for me.
I actually went because our exchange student attended a baptist church in her home country, and Halley and I want her to feel comfortable and such in her new environment. So we selected a certain baptist congregation near our home, and this is the second Sunday that we've brought Eun to their gathering.
It's not that these baptists are anything unusual. No speaking in tongues, Pentecostal rolling in the aisles, snake dancing, etc. They seem like nice people, and are definitely glad to have visitors in their little church. I suppose for me, considering my personal experiences with religion and mormonism in particular, the atmosphere is far too reminiscent of that world.
Strangely enough, if you added a few references to the Book of Mormon and some corny priesthood jokes, this baptist service would be almost identical in flavor to a mormon one. They have the same basic attitudes toward morals, patriotism, community service, and such. They have the same back-breaking wooden pews, and they sing most of the same hymns. The pastor raises his voice above the usual sleep-inducing tones of mormon sacrament meeting speakers, but the message is pretty much the same. The mormons, in fact, used to have much of the hell-raising preaching and shouting in their meetings, but nowadays a corporate-style calm pervades the chapels, interrupted only by the sudden snort of an obese brother waking from a nap.
One note on the hymns-- they are just as horrifyingly bad as the mormon ones. Possibly worse, because while the mormon hymns go on about how you can Hie to Kolob in the Twinkling of an Eye and meet Jesus and all the Gods, live on a sphere of fire and create your own pet planets, many of the baptist numbers from the 1800s have the worst lyrics I've ever heard, and retain a certain backwoodsy quality that evinces a smirk from me. Sorry if that sounds smug, but the first thing I think of when hearing that style of music is rusting corrugated sheds, banjos, and scenes from 'Tom Sawyer' at the revival camp.
These folk would doubtless be horrified in being compared to mormons, but there you have it. I think the main reason I feel uncomfortable among them is that stifling sensation of conformity. With the mormons, it is the same-- everyone is their brother's keepers, and there is a messianic zeal in cajoling, shaming, or persuading others to conform to the group morals.
The tithe plate is an interesting feature at the baptist church. To the accompaniment of cheerful piano music, it is passed around by the church deacons once or twice each Sunday. The mormons, as is well known, pay 10% of their income as tithes, and make numerous lesser contributions to missionary funds, building funds, scouting, etc. But the mormons would consider it somewhat bad form or even vulgar to actually pass a plate around and see dollars in the Lord's house. They are as modest with their money as they are with their clothing, putting their tithing checks into anonymous gray envelopes to be dropped in the bishop's office mailbox.
The background chatter in the pews before the baptist service was quite illuminating. It was a mirror image of what I'd hear at a mormon meeting-- and I think there are two basic sorts of gossip at mormon chapels. First, there is gossip about members who are 'in trouble' for whatever reason. Adultery, gay children, illness, whatever. Then there is the second variety- righteous gossip. That entails talking about how benighted all those outside the embrace of one's own church are. "Those poor Africans who are ignorant of the Lord's blessings...they are less fortunate than us because they didn't stand with Jesus in the pre-existence. I hear there's a new mission in Ivory Coast to save them- nice, eh?" Or..."I was down in _____ last week, and they have all sorts of churches there. You can tell it's in the Bible Belt- even the towns are named after Old Testament places. How sad that they're 'the wrong kind'. It will be so beautiful when we can open their eyes to the truth someday"... and so on.
Maybe one hears that kind of righteous gossip in every church. Though I never recall being troubled by it in a synagogue... hooray for the Jews?
I'm all for freedom of religion and personal beliefs. I don't choose to participate in organized religion, because I've seen first-hand the way it tends to get out of control and warp people's lives. I'm happy for those who have a good experience through their churches, baptist, mormon, or otherwise. But I don't need a church to feel close to the divine. An afternoon in the mountains or listening to Bach does that for me quite nicely.
I actually went because our exchange student attended a baptist church in her home country, and Halley and I want her to feel comfortable and such in her new environment. So we selected a certain baptist congregation near our home, and this is the second Sunday that we've brought Eun to their gathering.
It's not that these baptists are anything unusual. No speaking in tongues, Pentecostal rolling in the aisles, snake dancing, etc. They seem like nice people, and are definitely glad to have visitors in their little church. I suppose for me, considering my personal experiences with religion and mormonism in particular, the atmosphere is far too reminiscent of that world.
Strangely enough, if you added a few references to the Book of Mormon and some corny priesthood jokes, this baptist service would be almost identical in flavor to a mormon one. They have the same basic attitudes toward morals, patriotism, community service, and such. They have the same back-breaking wooden pews, and they sing most of the same hymns. The pastor raises his voice above the usual sleep-inducing tones of mormon sacrament meeting speakers, but the message is pretty much the same. The mormons, in fact, used to have much of the hell-raising preaching and shouting in their meetings, but nowadays a corporate-style calm pervades the chapels, interrupted only by the sudden snort of an obese brother waking from a nap.
One note on the hymns-- they are just as horrifyingly bad as the mormon ones. Possibly worse, because while the mormon hymns go on about how you can Hie to Kolob in the Twinkling of an Eye and meet Jesus and all the Gods, live on a sphere of fire and create your own pet planets, many of the baptist numbers from the 1800s have the worst lyrics I've ever heard, and retain a certain backwoodsy quality that evinces a smirk from me. Sorry if that sounds smug, but the first thing I think of when hearing that style of music is rusting corrugated sheds, banjos, and scenes from 'Tom Sawyer' at the revival camp.
These folk would doubtless be horrified in being compared to mormons, but there you have it. I think the main reason I feel uncomfortable among them is that stifling sensation of conformity. With the mormons, it is the same-- everyone is their brother's keepers, and there is a messianic zeal in cajoling, shaming, or persuading others to conform to the group morals.
The tithe plate is an interesting feature at the baptist church. To the accompaniment of cheerful piano music, it is passed around by the church deacons once or twice each Sunday. The mormons, as is well known, pay 10% of their income as tithes, and make numerous lesser contributions to missionary funds, building funds, scouting, etc. But the mormons would consider it somewhat bad form or even vulgar to actually pass a plate around and see dollars in the Lord's house. They are as modest with their money as they are with their clothing, putting their tithing checks into anonymous gray envelopes to be dropped in the bishop's office mailbox.
The background chatter in the pews before the baptist service was quite illuminating. It was a mirror image of what I'd hear at a mormon meeting-- and I think there are two basic sorts of gossip at mormon chapels. First, there is gossip about members who are 'in trouble' for whatever reason. Adultery, gay children, illness, whatever. Then there is the second variety- righteous gossip. That entails talking about how benighted all those outside the embrace of one's own church are. "Those poor Africans who are ignorant of the Lord's blessings...they are less fortunate than us because they didn't stand with Jesus in the pre-existence. I hear there's a new mission in Ivory Coast to save them- nice, eh?" Or..."I was down in _____ last week, and they have all sorts of churches there. You can tell it's in the Bible Belt- even the towns are named after Old Testament places. How sad that they're 'the wrong kind'. It will be so beautiful when we can open their eyes to the truth someday"... and so on.
Maybe one hears that kind of righteous gossip in every church. Though I never recall being troubled by it in a synagogue... hooray for the Jews?
I'm all for freedom of religion and personal beliefs. I don't choose to participate in organized religion, because I've seen first-hand the way it tends to get out of control and warp people's lives. I'm happy for those who have a good experience through their churches, baptist, mormon, or otherwise. But I don't need a church to feel close to the divine. An afternoon in the mountains or listening to Bach does that for me quite nicely.