May 31 Church Visit

This Sunday I travelled with Shawn H to a Catholic church in town. I won't say which one, and apparently it doesn't really matter because most services are pretty much the same. During my spiritual retreat time I got a taste of Catholic services, but did not attend a full mass, so this Sunday afforded me that opportunity. Shawn came along because he's more familiar with Catholic services and background, and I didn't want to make any mistakes. We entered the church and things were very quiet. Several people dipped their hands in holy water, or knelt near the cross as they entered and sat down. We attended a 9 am service. There were not many young people, or couples or families present during this service. Maybe more would be at the 11 am service. The bulletin of the church was impressive (though there was no order of worship in it). It looked like the church was busy with things. I noticed a yellow sheet of paper in the hymnal rack and pulled it out. It described what happens during the Eucharist and that any non Catholics were not to take it (apparently I shouldn't have taken the Eucharist in Weston Priory, but I didn't know that). I appreciated the information and the explanations of what was going to happen. The service took exactly 1 hour. I came away from it thinking that there was a lot of ritual about it. Shawn confirmed that that was the basis of most services in the Catholic church. I observed water, smoke, candles, singing by the Priest, singing by the choir, and the Eucharist being taken. It was very interesting to observe all that went on, and wonder. At times it seemed that the Priest was just going through the motions, speaking very fast (even faster than me : ) ) There was no order of worship so I didn't know what was coming next, or when to sit down or stand up, but pretty much everyone else seemed to. Shawn told me afterwards that you take Catholic member classes to find out about all that stuff if you want to become a Catholic. I also noticed (after the fact) that there were no Bibles in the pews, or anywhere for that matter, and no one took a Bible with them from home. Neither was the chapter and verse of the Scripture being read announced; Just the book. I found that interesting. The homily was about 12 minutes long, but it was very hard to understand the Priest. He spoke very fast, as if he was just trying to get through the service and move on to the next item of ritual. I noticed that during some of the singing and other elements that went on, he seemed very disengaged. I came away from this service wondering why people would come to a Catholic mass. I confess that I don't know a lot about Catholic history, but I do know some stuff. After talking about it with Shawn I confirmed that people come because they need to come because of the way that the theology of Catholicism is structured. I won't get into any deep discussions about all that. I'll just approach it from a visitor's standpoint. There was no church school that I'm aware of, or nursery, so it would have been difficult for children to be in church, but maybe they are in church to take Eucharist as children. There was no order of worship, so I didn't know what to expect, only that I was not allowed to take the Eucharist. There was lots of ceremony during the service, and all of it had meaning I know, but as a visitor, I had no clue as to what was going on. No one welcomed us, though we did pass the peace of Christ in the middle of the service, but didn't shake hands. So, from a visitor standpoint, I don't think I'd come back to that church. Again, it's that relationship, relationship, relationship element that bubbles to the surface. I got the feeling that this Catholic church just held services, and if people came, they came. If people didn't, well, then they didn't. No matter either way. That may not be the way it is for every Catholic church (and I hope it isn't), or every Catholic for that matter, but if I was interested in becoming Catholic, this church wouldn't have helped me to want to become one. : (

May 24 Church Visit

Greetings all, On Sunday, May 24th Chris and I travelled to Living Hope CRC. I've heard much about this small church that began not too long ago. It comes out of Calvary CRC in the East end of Ottawa. Pastor Ron (hey, what a GREAT name) shepherds this church part time. Attendance runs at about 60 people at peak times. I've always wanted to attend Living Hope, and my EPDL allowed to do that. Chris and I arrived about 20 minutes early and found several people setting up the gym at Community Christian School, which is where the church now meets on Sunday's. A couple of people know me from this church, but not many. We were greeted warmly and I introduced myself and my son. An effort was made to make Chris feel welcome, which was appreciated. Once things were set up, Chris and I sat down. Others sat down too. Pastor Ron eventually entered and began to greet pretty much everyone in the building, and mostly by name. A teachable moment for me. I'm not great with names (always working on that), but this little event reminded me that it's so important to be able to greet people when they walk into church. I think Pastor Ken and I do an ok job of that, but wouldn't it be interesting if we walked the aisles of our church, greeting people and shaking hands (I just made some in Calvin cringe I think : ) ) Something to ponder for sure. Now, I must admit, I was looking forward to hearing Pastor Ron preach. I don't think I've had the privilege yet. However, I discovered that day that they rotate preaching and Bible Study groups every other week. It is on the web site under their worship, but I was in a hurry when I looked up their worship times and missed the fine print below that information. Alas, it wouldn't have changed my coming to Living Hope, but it was a surprise in that I was expecting something else. This Sunday we were also privileged to hear the young people do the worship time. About 7 young people were up front leading in praise and worship and a very small church. I thought that was very cool! After worship time, and some announcements about how the summer was going to run there was a short break to grab some liquid refreshment and then go to an assigned group for the Bible Study time. During this social time, someone came up to Chris and I and talked with us. He described the church and shared with us his excitement about what was happening. It was encouraging to hear. Then Chris and I went to our Bible Study group. There was a youth Catechism group, but Chris didn't want to go. Instead, we placed ourselves in chairs that were in a circle and we proceeded to interact for about 35 minutes in a discussion on John 1. It was a pretty good discussion, though there were those awkward silent moments where everyone else is hoping someone else will answer the question. We ended our time praying together.

Then it was time to socialize a bit more and clean up and head for home. Some of the young people came up to me (I knew a couple of them) and shared their joy about being in Living Hope, and Pastor Ron shared about his joy of having them part of the church.

I enjoyed our time at Living Hope, as did Chris. He liked the praise band. I liked the relaxed atmosphere, which you can get away with in this setting. There are some neat things happening at Living hope. This church is grappling with how to intersect with their community around them, at their work place, and basically in all the relationships God has placed before them. That's an easier thing to do with a young church, and at times I envy a church like that. Calvin or even Calvary are different churches, but this kind of ministry mindset is not impossible (see my other blog entries for further thoughts). A couple of things that Living Hope should be aware of: 1. Make your rotating service elements more apparent on your web site so people looking for a church get all the pertinent information before coming to church. 2. Chris and I were not introduced during our Bible Study time, so it was a bit awkward answering questions when there was no get to know you time in the beginning. 3. No one in the group really acknowledged us, even after the discussion time was over. Now that might have been because 1 or 2 of them knew who I was, but apparently there was a new family in our group too, and they weren't introduced either. In a church this small, that's something that is vital to get people coming back. 4. As Living Hope tries new things (I think they were going to do a potluck for church the next week) trying to find ways to allow new people to come in and simply be part of what's happening that day is very important. All learning curve stuff, and Calvin makes it's mistakes too, but just some things that Chris and I noticed as we visited Living Hope CRC. May God continue to bless you as you grow in community.