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Reflection on "My Neighbor's Religion" Project

6/27/2015

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I started this blog in November of 2014, and now, after 8 months and 20 visits to different religious communities and services, it's time for me to say goodbye.I'm moving off to the Los Angeles area to attend Claremont School of Theology where many great adventures await me. Sadly that means my time working with the University of Minnesota's Multifaith Student Council has come to a close, and so too must this blog.

What did I learn about my neighbors' faith in 20 visits? I learned that some of my neighbors attend big churches alongside thousands of other people, while others gather weekly in small groups of a handful or so. Some of my neighbors pray silently, others pray out loud, still others sing and dance their praises, some prostrate themselves before the Almighty, some process before God's altar with candles and incense, and some are moved by God's Spirit to cry out in unknown tongues. Some of my neighbors like to listen to really long sermons, others keep it short and sweet. A few places host sermons that make good use of slideshows, while one church offers sermons consisting entirely of quotes from sacred texts, and two places I visited don't have any preaching at all. Some places of worship are joyously loud, others are contemplatively silent.

And all of these are places where my neighbors come together to share with each other, to build community, to have fellowship, to share joys and sorrows, to be together and recognize that they are better together and that there is something greater than themselves. Despite the bad rap many religious organizations get for spreading hate and intolerance, I never once heard hateful or bigoted speech. Instead everywhere I went I found love, warmth, welcome, respect, and excitement to share with me what each community cherished.

I began this adventure hoping to enrich my appreciation of my community and challenge my preconceptions of other traditions. I have surely accomplished both. If you are interested in learning more about the faith traditions in your community, I encourage you to visit your neighbor's church, temple, masjid, gurdwara, synagogue, or meeting house. I guarantee you'll discover lots about unfamiliar traditions, and learn far more than you imagined about your own faith.

Most of all, you will learn that whether we talk about "Allah", "Mind", or never refer to God; whether we gather on Sundays, Saturdays, Fridays, or Tuesdays at 2:30pm; whether we believe in transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or don't know what that means; whether we attend every week, or just whenever we feel like it; we all long to be loved, to have meaning in our lives, to have time to reflect, to be thankful, and to challenge ourselves to lead the best lives we can.


Thank you for making the journey with me. It's been a wonderful adventure.
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#14 Great Grace Assembly of God

6/15/2015

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The Assemblies of God have a similar heritage and similar beliefs to Pentecostals, and their worship services are similar in style: congregants are moved by the spirit, they call out in praise to the Lord, they raise and wave their hands in praise, they praise and bless the Lord for His goodness and mercy out loud. At the service I attended, I was one of the few people not raising their hands, swaying to the music, shaking tambourines, or dancing in the aisle. (The only time I moved along with everyone else was when we made a big procession to put our tithes and offerings in a box at the front of the church. Thankfully I remembered to bring cash.)

Worship at Great Grace had a similar fervor in its prayer and sermon as Calvary Pentecostal. But where Calvary stressed baptism by the Holy Ghost, the pastor at Great Grace exhorted the congregation (in incredibly loud tones) to have a personal relationship with God, to have faith in God's ability to do anything and answer prayers, and to trust no man's opinion about God but learn about God from experiencing God.

Indeed everyone at Great Grace seemed to be experiencing something greater than themselves. While I'll leave it to Andrew Newberg to explain what exactly these people are experiencing, this is certain: the experience is real, powerful, and the future of Christianity.

Like the Pentecostal movement, the Assemblies of God are one of the fastest growing Christian groups worldwide, and have about 3 million members in the U.S. In the US, AGs are growing fastest in the Southwest, but these numbers pales in comparison the 57 million members worldwide, and the church's incredible growth in Africa, South America, and Asia. Great Grace was in many ways indicative of the future of Christianity. How so, many theologians argue the future of Christianity lies in people experiencing God and being moved by the Spirit. (Great Grace certainly has that down). And all demographers claim the future of Christianity lies in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. (Basically everyone at Great Grace was of an African ethnicity.)

And so I'm going to take this post as an opportunity to reflect, not on the service I attended, but on how the service I attended is indicative of Christianity's future.

Much has been made of the recent Pew Reseach Center's survey of Religion in American, and while I encourage you to peruse the findings, I think a few things should be kept in mind. While some of the changes in the religious landscape were religious and/or political, demographics also played a role. Basically, the number of European Americans is decreasing, and so you would expect that religious groups like Mainline Protestants, who are mostly European Americans, to decline. And while some Evangelicals celebrated how they didn't decline nearly as much as Mainline Protestants and Catholics, much of this can be attributed to the fact that the birthrate of Evangelicals, while now identical to Mainline Protestants, fell a generation later, and so they have not yet experienced the drastic declines that other Christians have experienced, and so until they do, they will continue to increase their share of the Christian Pie.

The most important fact about the changing American religious landscape, is that the Christianity is decreasing, and the nones are making a meteoric rise. (Nones include all non-religious people like Humanists and people who consider themselves spiritual but not religious.) While this make you think that religion is declining, I invite you to look at the global picture.

The Pew Forum also released a (somewhat less talked about) report on the global religious landscape, and made predictions about the worldwide religious landscape out to 2050. Here predictions can be made because demographics, not theology or politics, are the guiding factor. And so while secularism may rise in the US to levels similar to Europe and Japan, the number of religious people will increase because the total number of people in places with high levels of secularity, will decrease. Many of the fastest shrinking countries are also some of the most secular while many of the most religious countries, are the fastest growing, not to mention that countries that will experience the largest numerical gains, like India, tend to be very religious. Basically, there's a bunch of factors determining how religions will grow., but the data tell us that the numbers of non-religious will grow for a while, then begin to shrink, as will the numbers of Buddhists, Folk Religionists, and "others." Hinduism and Judaism will grow a bit, and Islam will pass Christianity as the world's most popular religion around 2070.

But what the numbers don't tell us is how the religions will be transformed by these demographic changes. The future of Christianity, lies in the Global South. Check out the countries with the largest Christian populations in 2050, and you'll see what I mean. Much scholarship has been done about the differences between Christianity in the developed world and Christianity in the developing world. The consensus is that Christianity in the Global South is rooted in faith and experience more than creeds and rituals. Harvey Cox describes in his book The Future of Faith how Christianity's future lies in the faithful having an experience of the divine (like at Great Grace Assembly of God) and being inspired/led by the Spirit to transform your life and work for social justice.

Exactly what the future holds for Christianity and how global trends will affect Christian practices in the US remains to be seen. Perhaps we will have a wave of missionaries coming to the US from Africa, Asia, and South America. Perhaps more and more Christians and churches will quit worrying about creeds. And perhaps Christianity will become the force for social justice that Walter Rauschenbush, Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa, Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., Pope Francis, Desmond Tutu, and so many others believe it is called to be.
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#13 First Unitarian Society

6/15/2015

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On Sunday mornings, people gather in a beautiful assembly hall in a mid-century building situated on Mt. Curve road in Minneapolis. The assembly hall has rows of benches facing a stage that has a piano, an organ, and a podium on it. People find seats in the assembly hall and chat with their neighbors as they wait for service to begin. At the sound of a bell, the service began.

In many ways this service was very similar to any Christian service. We sang an opening song, a candle was lit on the stage, we shared our joys and sorrows, a collection was taken, a passage was read, a message was delivered, we sang some more, the congregation recited things in unison, the congregation responded to the pastor as one, and at not time was there made any reference to God or the Divine. Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Church.

The Unitarian Universalist Church or UU formed from the 1961 merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America and is committed to living in the tensions between liberal Christianity and Humanism.  The UU church makes no claims about God, Jesus, or the afterlife, it holds no creed, it emphasizes personal experience and the changing nature of religious understanding, and teaches the need for us to come together and share our wisdom and experiences.

UUs trace their history to the earliest followers of Jesus, at least those who rejected his divinity. These people, who would later fall into the Arian category, would be declared heretics during the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. Unitarian ideas reemerged in 16th century Switzerland, and later found strongholds in England, Hungary, and Italy. The movement spread widely through the United States, gave birth to transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau, and then experienced a decline in numbers (like liberal Christianity in general) during the 20th century. Today most American UUs live in the Northeast, yet the metro area with the second highest number of UU congregations (after Boston) is the Twin Cities.

Many humanists call the UU Church home. Humanism is being good without God. And while there are Christian Humanists and Muslim Humanists, these terms refer to people who stress the human aspects of their religious traditions. Here I will use humanism as a synonym for secular humanism. The First Unitarian Society calls itself "a heritage of forward-thinking humanism at home in the here and the now", and while I don't know the proportion of humanists in the FUS community, I will make the (unjustified) assumption that it was 100%. Given my current fascination with humanism, I knew a trip to FUS was in order.

Having recently read a couple of books about Humanism (Good Without God, by Greg Epstein and Living the Secular Life, by Phil Zuckerman) both of which stressed our human need for ritual, I was thrilled to see how FUS had cultivated rituals while eschewing any reference to God. While some rituals, such as lighting a candle in a candle holder shaped as the UU flaming chalice, seemed on their surface to be religous-y, the words recited when lighting and extinguishing the candle referenced our human need for community and our search for truth, not God.

The songs we sang, most of which celebrated nature, had a spiritual flavor to them, yet needn't have been viewed as spiritual. Still other songs were completely secular. While the collection was gathered, the pianist played Send in the Clowns, and the closing song was a parody of Elvis's Blue Christmas, in which the vocalist sang how, once the community had dispersed for the day, it would be a "Blue Sunday" at FUS.

The reading was from Hermann Hesse, and the "talk" that followed it discussed the need for sabbath, for us to slow down, take a break, get bored, and let our minds refresh.

FUS did an incredible job of creating an environment that led you to rejoice in and care for the world and those around you. The wall behind the stage was decorating with beautiful prints of flowers, trees, and waterfalls. The north wall was floor to ceiling glass offering a splendid view toward downtown Minneapolis. And alongside the welcome message and general announcements, time was set aside for the "Social Justice Minute" which praised the recent anti-sandpiper pipeline march in St. Paul and reminded people of the work FUS would be doing for the annual Twin Cities Pride Week.

Perhaps what strikes me most about Humanism is how much it helps people lead incredible, rich lives. Humanists understand deeply the need to be in community, and to share our life with those we love. Humanism is, in some ways, a celebration of life, and a recognition of our ability and responsibility to make life as wonderful and meaningful as humanly possible. After all if there is no hereafter, all your efforts should be focused on giving meaning and beauty to this life, to cherishing each moment you share with your loved ones, and to enjoying and celebrating life. As the congregation recited when welcoming new members to FUS "And we believe in life, / and in the strength of love; / and we have found a need to be together."
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#12 Compassion of Christ Catholic Community

6/15/2015

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The Mass at Compassion of Christ was beautiful: informal yet reverent, simple and thoughtfully put together. There was a small gathering of about 20 faithful on the Sunday evening I visited, yet each individual seemed intent and proud to have come to this particular Catholic community instead of just any other. The hymns we sang were traditional in style, led by a couple of vocalists accompanied by a guitar and a piano, and were sung with male and female inclusive lyrics. The community was vibrant and hopeful for a better tomorrow. They were thrilled to welcome their newly-ordained priest who invited questions and comments on the sermon.

And the priest was a woman.

Yes, you read that correctly. I went to a Mass said by a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. And it was beautiful.

There are women who serve as Roman Catholic priests who, while not recognized by the Vatican, care for congregations and do wonderful ministerial work. The RCWP movement began in 2002, with the ordination of seven women in the Danube river. The Womenpriests, including the originals in 2002, were ordained in Apostolic Succession, and therefore claim to be just as completely a priest as the next (Man)priest.

What's "Apostolic Succession"? Apostolic Succession refers to the unbroken chain of succession of bishops leading back to the original Apostles. Jesus "ordained" his apostles as the first "bishops" who then passed this authority on (by the laying on of hands) to other followers some as bishops, others as priests or deacons. While the idea of bishops, popes, and priests as well the roles these people play developed into their current form over many generations, and there is disagreement over who Jesus appointed as his successor (either Peter as the Catholic church claims or James, who was most likely Jesus' brother) the Catholic church views contemporary priests as the newest link in an unbroken chain stretching back to Jesus (who is of course also God). So to be ordained in Apostolic Succession, the priest who ordains you must have been properly ordained by another priest who had been properly ordained by another properly ordained priest and so on and so on back to the original Apostles being ordained by Jesus. Whether or not there were women in this chain prior to 2002 is a question to keep historians awake at night. Episcopa Theodora is a controversial candidate for an earlier female bishop.

According to Compassion of Christ's website, the Catholic people have spoken (the "sensus fidelium") and women have now taken back their role as priests. And considering there were three Womenpriests and a couple of deacons serving at Compassion of Christ, and there are many ordained Womenpriests in dozen of churches across the US and around the globe, Womenpriests seem to be doing a good job of taking back their role.

I'm sure you're wondering, how do these women get away with it? Well they don't really. They aren't recognized by the Vatican, the Mass I attended was held in a United Methodist Church, and Womenpriests are open about having broken the Church's (sexist) Canon Law 1024. Are they worried about being excommunicated? As they presider told me after Mass, excommunication does nothing to her relationship with God, it's just something a bunch of men in Rome invented to keep people in their place.

Since the Catholic church is currently facing a massive global shortage of priests, and people in my generation (millennials) don't care if your a man, a woman, or some other gender, I think this problem has an obvious solution. Whether or not a bunch of men in Rome will agree remains to be seen.

And so I leave you with the words of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (who was not Catholic btw).
"Well behaved women seldom make history."
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#11 Second Church of Christ, Scientist

6/15/2015

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No, I did not attend the church in the above image. I live in Minneapolis. The above image is of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston. It is the mother church for the Church of Christ, Scientist. Christian Science is a small branch of Christianity, numbering no more than 100,000 members worldwide, with the vast majority of its members in the United States. It is not Scientology. Like Scientology, Christian Science has its vocal critics. Unlike Scientology, Christian Science is associated with a reputable weekly newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor.

I didn't know what to expect when visiting the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, but the first thing I was struck by when entering the church was its beautiful simplicity. The church was hexagonal (YEAH for thinking outside the box!) with windows running all the way along the top of the walls. There was a simple stage in the middle of which stood a wooden podium large enough for two speakers.  Behind the stage two quotes were placed on the wall in large letters, one quote was from Christ Jesus, the other from Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science.

The service I attended featured three hymns led by an organ and a vocalist. We prayed the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase. Between each phrase an explanation of the phrase was recited as well. The majority of the service involved the sermon which was unlike any sermon I had ever heard before.

Instead of preaching from personal experience/theological training, the two individuals (one man, one woman) who led the service offered a pre-packaged sermon. As Christian Science has no clergy, members of a congregation are elected to three year terms to lead worship. The two individuals who led the service alternated reading passages out of the King James Version of the Bible, and
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This way the sermon was delivered completely without error. The sermon was about the evils of hypnotism and animal magnetism. The passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures spoke directly about hypnotism and animal magnetism, the Biblical passages spoke about reliance on God and God's healing powers.

The Church of Christ, Scientist is certainly a unique branch of Christianity. What other branch of Christianity provides its lay leaders with pre-written sermons? In what other denomination does every church hold services on Wednesday evenings devoted to sharing stories of God's healing? What other church provides reading rooms for seekers and curious passerby?
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#10 Calvary Pentecostal

6/4/2015

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May 24, 2015 was Pentecost Sunday, the day on which Christians around the world remember the coming of the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit, aka the Holy Ghost, is characterized as a fire which burns in the hearts of believers, allowing them to be lead by the Spirit of God, and not the spirit of the world.

The original Christian Pentecost Sunday occurred fifty days after Jesus' resurrection. Pentecost which means 50 days, is the Greek translation of Shavuot, the (Hebrew) name for the Jewish holiday celebrated 50 days after Passover which commemorates the revelation of the Torah to Moses. The story goes that Jesus' followers (who weren't only men) were gathered in a room praying. Just ten days earlier, Jesus had ascended to Heaven telling his followers to wait in Jerusalem for "the promise of the Father," i.e. the Holy Spirit. The story continues according to Acts 2:1-4

    When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And                         suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the                     entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which             parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit             and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

After receiving the Holy Spirit, the apostles went out into Jerusalem and began to preach the Good News to those gathered in the city. According to Luke each person in the crowd heard the apostles speaking in their own native tongue, despite the fact that the crowd included people from across the entire Roman Empire.

Regardless of how you choose to interpret the story, the fact remains that, being led by the Spirit leads to incredible things. And that's what the Pentecostal church is all about: baptizing people in the Holy Ghost so their lives may be utterly transformed for the better.

Pentecostalism arose around the beginning of the 20th century, arising from the Holiness revival movement of the late 19th century. From it's humble beginnings it has emerged into a worldwide movement of nearly half a billion individuals. It is one of the fastest growing Christian groups. While traditionally associated with the more marginalized segments of American society, this is no longer the case. Today there are about 30 million pentecostal Americans (roughly 10% of the national population), and the pentecostal movement has grown immensely in South America, drastically changing the region's once solidly Catholic religious
landscape.

Pentecostal services are characterized by spontaneity. Congregants (and leaders) are led by, perhaps overcome by, the Spirit during the service. During the service I attended, the faithful would raise their hands high in the air when singing, they would shout "AMEN!", "PRAISE JESUS!", "THANK YOU GOD!", and they would also sometimes speak in tongues, uttering phrases that were unintelligible by anyone gathered but believed to be words put into their mouths directly by the Holy Spirit. As someone who likes to sit quietly by himself while at church it was fascinating to be surrounded by people who were incredibly outward in their expression of their faith.

The sermon I heard addressed the need to be baptized by the Holy Ghost, and not just by water. The sermon was based on Acts 19:1-7 which describes Paul conferring the Holy Ghost on some new believers in Ephesus. The pastor described
(very passionately) the ways in which one's life is better after this experience. First off, the point of baptism by the Holy Ghost is not to speak in tongues, or shout "ALLELUIA!" in the middle of the service. These are simply outward signs of the presence of the Spirit within. Instead, baptism by the Holy Ghost means you are absolutely free to do God's will. You become filled with hope, you can kick your addictions, and you see the world clearly.

While Pentecostals do baptize in water, it is not believed to confer the Holy Ghost, and baptism by the Holy Ghost is what makes you a full Christian. Baptism by the Holy Ghost is something which you must feel called (inspired?) to undertake, and is not a one-time event, but more like the beginning of a relationship. And just as some couples choose to renew their wedding vows, some people may choose to receive a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit into their lives. Such an opportunity was offered at the end of the service I attended when the pastor announced that anyone who felt they were being moved to receive the Holy Ghost for the first time or who desired a renewal of the Spirit should come forward to the altar and he would pray with them.

Slowly individuals made their way toward the altar as the choir passionately intoned a song asking the Spirit to come into our lives. The pastor met the people in front of the stage and laid his hands on their head, closed his eyes and began to pray fervently. As more and more people came toward the altar, they placed their hands on each others shoulders and prayed together. I do not know what was being said, but the experience was clearly powerful for those involved. Everyone moved in a slow, trance-like way, as if their movements were directed by an outside force. A parishioner I talked with after the service (who had once been addicted to alcohol, tobacco, and all sorts of drugs but, after receiving the Holy Ghost many years ago, has never since felt the urge to use any substance) described the experience of baptism by the Holy Ghost as the most wonderful, incredible experience of their life. This parishioner said it required complete openness to receive the Spirit. You can't just give 99% of your life to God, it takes 100%. Sort of like the total devotion to the Absolute/Lord Krishna described in the Bhagavad Gita, or finding peace through complete submission to the will of God as taught in Islam.

It was clear that the experience of receiving the Spirit had made a tremendous impact on many lives in this congregation. There was a palpable desire to share the knowledge of this experience with those who have not yet received the Spirit, and to take this message to all peoples everywhere in the world. The pastor stated that Jesus won't return (to take us home) until the message of baptism by the Spirit has been brought to all peoples. And if the many studies which suggest Spirit-filled movements like Pentecostalism are the future of Christianity, then this movement certainly has something going for it.
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#9: Eagle Brook Church

5/23/2015

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"WELCOME TO EBC! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE."

Eagle Brook Church is the largest church in the state of Minnesota with over 18,000 congregants spread across 6 locations offering 24 services each weekend. While each individual campus is somewhat smaller (thereby giving the title of largest Minnesotan congregation at a single location to Living Word Christian Center), each is still large. Although Eagle Brook's size may pale compared to Rick Warren's 39,000 strong Saddle Back Church in Lake Forest, CA, or Joel Ostein's congregation of 43,000 at Lakewood Church in Houston (largest in US), and is no where close in size to the Yoido Full Gospel Choir Church in Seoul with an astounding 380,000+ congregants, Eagle Brook still makes the cut into the "megachurch" category.

Due to the wonders of suburban public transit (that could be another blog post) I attended the Spring Lake Park campus of Eagle Brook, which from the outside looks like your typcial, if somewhat large, church. Once you've parked your car with the help of reflective-vest-wearing,

orange-baton-weilding  "parking volunteers,"
and made your way to the church doors (oh, and if you have to park in their overflow lot, don't worry, there's a shuttle van to take you to the door), you're greeted by a smiling middle-aged white person who holds the door for you. Then you walk inside to the coffee shop.

Yes, a coffee shop. In a church. Why? Well, would you feel more comfortable walking into a stiff-looking cathedral or a relaxed coffee-shop? More on this later.

Along with a coffee shop, there was a bookstore, an information center, a brightly colored sign pointing the direction to the kid's ministry center, and a fancy looking electronic check-in center for the children's ministry. All of these had been built into what was apparently originally a traditional gathering space. EBC SLP had obviously purchased a former church, and adjusted the interior to fit their style.

Slightly overwhelmed by the crowd, and all the stuff happening, I entered the worship center to get a good seat, and maybe find some quiet. Oh, wait, there was music (Christian pop) playing/almost blaring as people gathered in the dark rows of chairs.

Taking the opportunity to check out the place, I noticed it was huge. Probably could have seated near to 1000 people. The worship space had a very traditional feel, with rows of chairs (not pews) arranged facing down a long, tall traditional church sactuary looking room. The only Christian symbol I could find was a underwhelming metal cross off to the side of the stage. Although EBC's style might fit better in more of an auditorium/concert venue style space like several of their other locations have, EBC SLP had obviously done all they could to put their style on this otherwise traditional looking building.

At the front of the worship center was a stage, not an altar. The stage was dark when I entered except for bright blue LED lights, casting a cool glow over the center. Above the stage were two giant screens which displayed various messages welcoming people to church "
Welcome to EBC! We're glad you're here," and announcing the current message series "Rumor Has It." Above the message was a countdown to worship. With one minute to go on the countdown, the messages disappeared and just the countdown was displayed. The band set up on the stage. The camera crew took their positions. The people got ready. 3, 2, 1... the drummer set the beat. ZERO! The stage lights went on. The band began a Christian rock song. Service began!

Service began indeed, and was unlike any Christian service I have yet attended. The service was simple, the band played Christian pop-rock songs for about 15 minutes, then a man welcomed us to worship with a comedy sketch routine in which he wrote thank you notes Jimmy Fallon style to the church volunteers. (BTW this routine involved a unicyle being ridden across the stage, and yes I knew the man riding it). After this welcome, the stage was cleared, and a third giant screen was lowered in the center of the stage for the simulcast of the pastor's message (about 40 minutes). Finally, once the message (not sermon) was finished, the welcome-man lead us in a prayer, then everyone made for the exits.

Okay, clearly there was more to the service than just that, otherwise there wouldn't be thousands of people attending. Well the message delivered that day shed a lot of light for me.

Lucky for me, I attended EBC on the third and final weekend of their message series "Rumor Has It." (Aside: as the stage was readied for the message the overhead screens played a graphic of a megaphone with the words "Rumor Has It" around it, while Adele's Rumor Has It was played.) This weekend's "rumor" was THE CHURCH (EBC) IS ALL ABOUT THE SHOW. The message was delivered by Jason Strand, EBC's "teaching pastor," who could be seen delivering the message via simulcast from Lino Lakes (which is where I would have attended if Metro Transit thought Lino Lakes exists on weekends). The simulcast screen was brought down to the stage floor level, so it almost looked as though Jason were standing on the SLP stage. Almost.

Jason wore jeans and a polo, and stood on a stage in front of a table and chair (which he never used) and a large television screen which displayed bible verses at the appropriate time. His style was informal, and dynamic. His message didn't feel nearly as long as many shorter sermons I've heard. The punch line of his message was that church needs to be relevant otherwise people won't come. The message was based around 1 Corinthians 9:22 (along with a few other verses helpfully printed on a handout I was given as I entered) in which Paul says "my goal is to find common ground with everyone I meet so that I might bring them to Christ."

EBC takes this to mean that the church must make people feel comfortable, in whatever way, short of sinning, works best. Maybe it's a coffee shop, or perhaps a hunting and fishing ministry, or it could even be doing a message series on the '90's and encouraging people to wear '90's clothes to church. Because the goal of the church is for people to find, not "the church" or religion, but to find Christ. Once you've become a follower of Christ you'd certainly be willing to worship God in a smelly, ugly church basement. But you wouldn't invite your friend to such a church, and what not Christ-follower would want to visit such a place? So the church must be reach the world where the world is.

The church should not be like the rest of the world and neither should Christians should live like "the rest of the world" with all that pre-marital sex and what not. The mission of the church, its beliefs and theology are eternal (so says Jason Strand, not the person writing this). But the way the church reaches people (to bring them to Christ) must change as the world changes. To quote pastor Jason, "we need to take deep stuff and teach it in ways people understand," and feel comfortable approaching. Today that means coffee for the teens, Xboxes for the children, and rock music for all. That's what makes people comfortable and willing to come to church, and keep coming. Once you're a committed follower of Christ, you'll realize you don't need all the lights, rock, and fog on the stage. You'll put down that mocha. You'll ask yourself, why do I need an app to help me read the Bible? But you'll stick around, because you'll be committed to helping others in the world find and know Christ.

I attend my current church, because I love the community. However I didn't sense a close knit community at Eagle Brook Spring Lake Park. But I only scratched the surface. Megachurches are far more than just once a week affairs. They are in fact networks, of smaller groups, who happen to share a common worship experience once a week. For example, EBC has nearly 200 small groups. Just like the (mega)University of Minnesota encourages students to find community by joining one of the 800+ student groups on campus. Megachurches understand that people seek community, but that can be hard to find in a megachurch, so they direct people toward small groups, where they make friends, and stick in the community. ("Join a Small Group" is next to "Get Baptized" on EBC's "Next Steps" page).

My interest in visiting a megachurch was piqued by reading American Grace in which authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell describe their visit to Saddleback Church in Forest Lake, CA. American Grace and my visit to Eagle Brook Church have me asking a lot about what purpose churches serve. Are churches for building community? Are churches for worship? Are they catalysts for social change? Are they pop-rock concerts mixed with a bit of morality and a shot of espresso? Should churches be run like businesses? Should they be big and reach a lot of people? Or should they be a place where everyone knows your name? I might prefer a small, intellectual, social action oriented church. But as Putnam and Campbell describe in American Grace, there is a place for everyone in the incredibly diverse religious landscape of America.
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8.4.2 Easter Vigil at St. Mary's Greek Orthodox

5/23/2015

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When was Easter 2015? Type that into Google and you will receive the answer April 5, 2015.But for Orthodox Christians, this year Easter was on April 12.Why two dates for the most important day of the Christian year? Well, it's complicated. Both Churches celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after or on the spring equinox. But the Orthodox and Western Churches have different definitions for "full Moon" and  "spring equinox" (Western Church says it's always March 21, Eastern Church goes with the astronomical equinox), and so they usually celebrate Easter on separate Sundays. Of course, like basically all differences between Western (especially Catholic) and Orthodox Christianity, the date of Easter is of little theological importance, yet great practical and political importance.

Since Easter was a week later for my Orthodox friends, I made it to both Western and Eastern Easter Vigil celebrations. As I love the rich traditions found in the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass, I was interested to see the Orthodox take on my favorite liturgy.

I arrived at St. Mary's at 10:30 pm, yes 10:30 at night. I was handed a candle as I entered the church and proceeded to find a seat in the quiet sanctuary.  The church remained quiet for about 30 minutes until a man began reciting the vespers, the evening prayer. Vespers took about 30 minutes, and consisted of a series of chants that recalled the events between Jesus' death and resurrection, in other words, his rescuing of the just from the grave. After vespers was finished, the lights within the church (already very dim) were turned off and the choir led us in a procession out of the church.

There we gathered as the priest lit an Easter candle, and the light from the Easter Candle was passed from candle to candle until everyone held a bit of the light of God. We stood outside with our candles as the Priest read prayers and the story of the women encountering the empty tomb, we sang glory to God, and sang "
Christ is risen from the dead/Trampling down death by death/And upon those in the tombs/Bestowing life!" which we sang about 100 times throughout  the service.

We processed back inside the church (some folks made a lap of the outside of the church which apparently is a tradition? but most just followed the priest back inside). Once gathered back inside, the priest joyously processed around the church, energetically swinging an incensor
(it was an Orthodox church after all), and shouting "Christ is Risen! Christos Anesti!," to which the faithful responded loudly "truly He is risen! Alithos Anesti!"

After this burst of Easter Joy, (keep in mind it's now past midnight so it's technically Easter), we settled down for a good old Orthodox Divine Liturgy. This liturgy was a typical liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with the addition of everyone holding a lit candle.

At the end of the liturgy, about 2am, the priest blessed baskets of hard boiled eggs which had been dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ spilled for us. On their way out of the church, everyone passed by to pick up their blessed egg, myself included. It was a good reminder of how the Easter egg can have both secular and religious meaning for a single holiday.

Considering how much more intricate the Roman Catholic Easter Vigil liturgy service is compared to a usual Sunday Mass, and considering how much more intricate the usual Orthodox liturgy is compared to a typical Roman Catholic liturgy, I was expecting the Easter Vigil liturgy at an Orthodox church to be especially intricate. While it was a bit more involved than the previous time I visited this church, it was not overpoweringly involved as I had expected. Overall things were kept simple, beautiful, yet simple. The emphasis was not so much on celebrating the end of a Lenten journey as a community or celebrating the history of God's saving grace as it has been in the Catholic churches I'm familiar with. Instead the focus was on reverently, gratefully, and joyously remembering God's single greatest act of salvation. And by the end of the liturgy, you couldn't forget what that act was, after all we sang it many, many times throughout the liturgy:
"Christ is risen from the dead/Trampling down death by death/And upon those in the tombs/Bestowing life!"
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8.5.1 Easter Sunday Sunrise Service at Prospect Park United Methodist

4/23/2015

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I'm not sure what got into me, but for some reason I though it would be a good idea to go to bed at 2am after Easter Vigil, then get up less than 4 hours later for a Easter Sunrise Service with Prospect Park United Methodist. To be honest, I really just wanted to watch the sunrise from my favorite spot in Minneapolis, the Witch's Hat Tower.

And so at 6:30 on a beautiful, clear, not yet morning, I climbed up the Tower Hill with the people of Prospect Park UMC to wait for the both risen Son and the rising Sun. As we stood in the cool pre-dawn air, a group of parishioners wound their way up the trail to where we were gathered by the tower singing as they went "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?". Once they had joined us we read the story of the women finding the empty tomb, the very same story I had heard less than 12 hours previously. Then the pastor offered a brief sermon about tombs, butterflies, and cocoons, and we stood in silent anticipation for the Sun to rise. Once the Sun had risen, we sang "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," which is a cliche, yet wonderful, Easter morning hymn full of Alleluias, which are always welcome on Easter morning.

It was a short and beautiful service. Yet given the fact that I returned home and slept for another six hours sort of defeated the "break of day" nature of the service. Oh well, I'm no morning person. While at the service the thought occurred to me when exactly on Easter the resurrection is supposed to have occurred. Daybreak? Midnight? Sunset the day before? Does it really matter?

Growing up there was a debate in my family as to whether or not you still had to keep your Lenten sacrifices between leaving Easter Vigil Mass (which usually ends shortly before Easter Sunday) and waking up the next day, or if you could begin eating your Easter candy as soon as you got home. I guess one way to resolve this would be to do things the Orthodox way and hold Easter Vigil liturgy from late Saturday night to early Sunday Morning. There's a hint about my next post.
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8.4.1 Easter Vigil at St. Frances Cabrini

4/23/2015

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Easter Vigil at a Catholic church is an amazing and rather long event, but I'll try my best to keep this short.

At the end of Good Friday the church was dark and bare. As we entered the church on Holy Saturday night (holding vigil for the resurrection on Easter morning) the church was still dark, but there were flowers on the altar, and we were each given a candle. About 15 minutes before Mass began, we gathered outside around a bonfire. The celebration began when the priest blessed the bonfire, and using that fire, lit what is know as the Easter Candle, a huge candle which represents the light of God present in the Church. It is lit during the Easter season (50 days after Easter), and also during Baptisms when the child is given a candle lit from the Easter candle representing the light of God coming through the Church and into the child's life. But back to the story. Once the Easter candle is lit on Easter Vigil, the flame is passed around until all the faithful are holding the light of Christ. And then we processed into the darkness of the Church, where a man sang an acclamation of Jesus' glorious defeat of death. How did Jesus defeat death? Without going into atonement theology, let me say that after Jesus died he descended into Hell (or wherever the good souls who died before Jesus were), then carried the souls of the blessed up into Heaven, opening the gates for all of us. Disclaimer: that was super-simplified, and not necessarily true, nor representative of anyone's (including the author) actual beliefs. Regardless of how it actually happened, we were gathered to celebrate God/Jesus saving us.

After 40 days of solemn fasting and preparation, we burst into song with the Gloria, which praises the glory of God (but not Bahá'u'lláh), and is not sung throughout Lent. We then sat and listened to nine readings from the Bible which outline the history of how God saved humanity, also known as Salvation History. The readings were the Creation Story, Abraham and Isaac, Moses parting the Red Sea, God making a covenant with Israel, God's mercy being available to all, Wisdom calling for us to love Her, God promising redemption, Baptism as an joining in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and finally, the story of the women finding the empty tomb.

My personal favorite this year was the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, which was danced by a group of women. The dance incorporated elements from the Jewish Seder meal (which my awesome Jewish friend Hannah skipped to come to church with me!) such as asking "why is this night different from the rest?". Instead of ending with the Egyptians drowning in the Red Sea, the women extended the story to include a Midrash (Midrash = Jewish texts which expand and interpret the stories of the Tanakh (Torah (books of Moses), Nevi'im (prophets), and Ketuvim(writings))) about the sorrow God and the Israelites felt at the death of so many of God's children being killed. Instead of responding to this reading with a Psalm as we did for every other reading, we responded with silence.

Besides reading a lot from the Bible, the Easter Vigil Mass also welcomes new members into the Church. Today to join the Catholic Church one must go through something known as the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, which I know almost nothing about. But back in the day (like Roman times) this period of preparation was the 40 days before Easter. Eventually not only new Christians observed these 40 days of preparation, but even life-long Christians began preparing for Easter, and the season of Lent was born. This year, there was one adult who joined the Catholic Church at my parish. This woman recited a short list of baptismal vows, and then had water poured over her head three times while the priest baptized her in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After being baptized, she was confirmed, the process through which one receives the Holy Spirit. To do so, the priest used sacred chrism oil to trace a cross on the woman's forehead while saying, "be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." After the woman was welcomed into the Church, each of us was invited to come forward and renew our baptismal promises by rinsing our hands or face from a basin of holy water.

After that the Mass preceded as normal, well the entire congregation sang the Consecration, which is not normal for a Catholic church, but tradition at St. Frances Cabrini. By the end of the Mass, it was nearly midnight, however we were not tired, but rejuvenated by the excitement of Easter. After the long preparation and expectation of Lent, the light and joy of Easter had finally come.
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