Only at Doolittles!!!

That’s a chant I heard several times tonight and for good reason. I went to watch live wrestling again at Dave Doolittles Sports Bar and it was priceless. My buddy Scott got thrown onto my table during his match and while his opponent is beating on him he looks over at me and casually says “Hey man how you been”. The match ended when he got thrown off the ring, into a ladder that was sitting on an old door that was sitting across a couple tables. It was beautiful.

Wrestling at Doolittles is a family affair and many of the spectators went to high school with the performers and it makes for some interesting trash talking and heckling. There was one guy who just wolden’t shut up actually got one of the wrestlers to stop the match, pick up the mic and tell him off. I think his best one of the night was “Hey! We were in math class together, I have your picture in my year book.”

He sort of sounded like Gilbert Godfrey which made it even more funny. He would just keep yelling “entertain me, entertain me!” He had some good ones but just wouldn’t shut up. And then it happened. I kid you not one of the wrestlers “Iron Tiger” comes down out of the ring, walks over to the guys table a straight up slaps the guy square across the face and knocks his glasses off. Awesome! And only a Doolittles.

*Way less macho/hick post coming soon I promise

Church Visits: Episode 7

CHURCH – Real Life Community Church

LOCATION – Basement of Dal Arts building.

BUILDING – What appears to be a rehearsal space / classroom for music

CONGREGATION – Young adults, average age was about 25 with a few older (40/50) spread around. A bit of racial diversity but predominantly white. Roughly 25 people on a long weekend Sunday in HRM – I’d guess average attendance is twice that.

OVERVIEW – Pretty classic charismatic free for all, dancing, yelling, banners, a little laughing, some “words” shared, an inspiring but not exegetical sermon, and lots and lots of singing. It lasted about and hour and 45 min (that's when I left at least, I heard it actually went on for at least another 45min).

PROS – Super welcoming, I had 4 different people actually sit next to me a chat for a while, there was lots of food and I was given a whole handful of welcome material including a couple brochures explaining the worship service and how the church worked. I though that was cool.
On one song a lady played the “squeeze box.” It was cool.
There guys are amazingly welcoming as well. There were a couple handicapped guys who wandered in late and left early and the church really supported them and there were a few, what I would describe as "characters" who happened by and they seemed truly welcome.
They seemed to have a handle on the whole tongues thing. Not that anyone gave an interpretation but no one had a major “focus drawing” outburst either. There may have been the odd mutter under the breath or brief speaking in the midst of a thousand other things so it was lost in the hubbub. Maybe not perfectly biblical (depending on who you ask) but way ahead of a lot of places I’ve been where it becomes and unintelligible free for all.

CONS – I’m pretty much over the lets all get together and feel good and wip ourselves into an altered state deal but so that didn’t float my boat to high. It all seems pretty forced and like a learned behavior. Although no more any other charismatic church. The flow of this service was pretty rough but I think that was because a lot of their usual leaders were away and they had some new folk leading the service. For the record they do practice an “open church concept” and so I think they were achieving what they set out to do which was to get together with no agenda and minimal planning, worship God, and see what happens.

FINAL THOUGHTS - I want to be clear I don’t think those things I mentioned in the cons are not inately wrong they just aren’t for me and I find them distracting rather than edifying. Much of it crosses my line of “decently and in order” but everyone else seemed to be fine and either undistracted or encouraged by some of the more unique behaviors. If I ever went through a charismatic worship phase I am definitely out of it and couldn’t make this my home church but these are some absolutely great people and I believe they love Jesus and welcome everyone the way he did and that’s cool. I’d hang out with and stand beside these guys any day.

QUESTIONS RAISED
-I wonder if the warm welcome these guys are so excellent at extending would have even more impact if the service had a bit more direction and order. I've been in enough charismatic services that I no longer get uncomfortable I just get bored but I have this mental picture of someone coming in, being warmly welcomed, getting a coffee, getting to know a couple of the members and thinking - this is cool, I feel so at home. And then the weirdness kicks in and they run. Reminds me of Paul’s admonition about tongues "what if a non-believer comes into your meeting..." Can't help but wonder.
-I still wonder what people get out of these monster worship a-thons. If it was "worship for hours because he is worthy" I would respect it but it always seems to be "worship until something happens”. And so worship begins to be for us and not for God, I worship so I get, I worship so I feel. I’m not sure this is God-honoring.
-I wonder what God could do with a church like this if they were more focused and intentional. I also wonder if that would ruin the whole thing.

What do you call a...

Matt has a post on has blog currently on the whole issue of what do you call "Christians" now that the word has lost almost all meaning. It something I have thought about some. These days (ie church planting days) I find myself wrestling with the opposite question. What do you call a non-christian.

Do you define in the negative: non-christian, pre-christian (gag), irreligious, un-saved...?

Do you get more specific: Atheist, agnostic, hindu, wiccan, hedonist, baptist...?

Or do you have an actual positive (in the sense that it defines what they are not what they are not, not in the sense that it's a good thing) term: Lost, sinner, heathen, godless, pagan, godless pagan...

What do you think and does it matter?

*taking a slight brake from the church visits,, I'll likely have another one up later this week and then sometime after Sunday.

Church Visits: Episode 6

CHURCH – Cathedral Church of All Saints

LOCATION – University Ave, by the hospitals. Downtownish, near university.

BUILDING – Big cathedral, lots of empty space and side chapels and such, stained glass, that sort of deal. This is the Bishop’s cathedral for NS & PEI.

CONGREGATION – There were exactly 16 of us, interestingly – 11 men and 5 women. Hmmm. Pretty wide age and race speard.

OVERVIEW – I think it was a typical Anglican celebration of Holy Communion, it was the middle of three that morning. About 45 min long.

PROS – Ummm… Read a creed and it all lead up to the Communion. Less gesturing and kneeling than the Catholics and a handy dandy prayer book so you can murmur at the appropriate times

CONS – They had set things up backwards in the church so that the pastor was standing in front of the open back door so that in order to get a seat you had to enter “stage center”. Not inviting. I guess they had bulletins cause I saw other people with them but I still have no idea where they got them from. No welcome, nothing for visitors other than “the peace” which is where everyone shakes hands and says “peace” or “the peace of Christ”. This is an idea that could be cool with tweaking. No directions on anything, including communion which it turns out can be taken by intiction or common cup. The music was a total train wreck with a decent piano player and a vocal free for all that boiled down to scattered murmurings with some faintly discernable mumbling. The hymns were pretty weak.

FINAL THOUGHTS – Should I decide to get in contact with our/my Anglican roots (my dad's family is Anglican) it will likely not be here. I want to check out a few other Anglican churches before I’m done though. St Georges Round, and a traditional service at St Paul’s.

QUESTIONS RAISED
-What were they thinking making people enter behind the preist? There were other doors you could come through but that was the main back door. I guess they were thinking everyone knew to use the other door (read - no one new will ever come)
-I did find it interesting that the majority of attenders were middle aged males - is that a statement about how liturgy connects better with males, or smaller service sizes, or is it just coincidence?

Church Visits: Episode 5

CHURCH – St Mary’s Basilica

LOCATION – Corner of Barrington and Spring Garden - downtown

BUILDING – A basilica. Massive Gothic cathedral, nice put not ornate

CONGREGATION – Average age of about 55-60, mostly white with a few Asians

OVERVIEW – This was there 7:30am mass, one of four on a long weekend in the summer and so the attendance of nearly 100 is downright impressive. This time slot may have influenced the demographic that was present. I can tell you for sure I would never get my kids to church at 7:30. It was basically a straight up mass. About 45 min long.

PROS – Most people were dressed pretty casually which always makes me feel more at ease. Everything leads up the Eucharist. I love that. Time for prayer and reflection was well timed, enough to think and pray but not enough to get painfully bored or let my mind wander all over. There was absolutely no music, not a single note sung and not and instrument in sight. I loved that!!! I get sick of music in church and it always makes me critical. Reading of the Nicene Creed – I like creeds. Decent scripture reading, you could tell they had read stuff in advance and worked it out. A bit monotone and plain but smoothly read. Ended with a blessing on the congregation – I love that. I am finding that you catch on so many points of liturgy pretty quickly and learn what to do. Of course I care and am trying which is probably more than you can say for the average first time visitor.

CONS – No one welcomed me to church and as soon as it was over everybody bolted. No sense of community at all other than the actual unity in the mass. Poor substitute if you ask me. No materials for visitors, basically they seem to run off an assumtion that no one new ever comes. Might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. A bell rings before the priest enters and I thought that was pretty lame. If you are going to make a sweet entrance I recommend some theme music and pyro ala WWE. Like most liturgical services visitors are left completely in the dark about what they are supposed to do and when and that can be fairly off-putting. Sermon was pretty dull – I’m learning that liturgy and great preaching are seldom found together.

FINAL THOUGHTS – I may actually be Catholic, I’m not sure. I’ve gotta say though I loved mass and will likely go back.

QUESTIONS RAISED
-Who decided we shoulden't celebrate communion every week
-Why does it have to be liturgy OR passion, structure OR energy, deapth OR drive? Why can't we pour the passion and exuberance of "modern worship" through the channel of good liturgy and wind up with something stronger because it's focised rather than weaker because it's restrained?
-How cool would it be to wear robes to church?

Church Visits: Episode 4

*Please notice a new section at the bottom of the post - Questions Raised.

CHURCH – Emmanuel Baptist Church (65yrs +)

LOCATION– Upper Hammonds Plains, on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

BUILDING – Looks pretty new, I’d say under 5 years, large, beautiful, clean and well decorated but not opulent or ornate. A fairly modern looking facility.

CONGREGATION – Pretty even split between black and white but a bit more black than white. Incredible age spread. Maybe a slight dip in the 20 something bracket but overall and amazing mix of ages. I’d guess there were around 250 there on a Sunday morning in the middle of summer, it might have been more but it’s hard to tell in a building you are not used to. Whatever it holds I guess it was around 70% full mid summer and that is saying something huge around here!

OVERVIEW – Lots of music, all of it with a definite black gospel slant, A couple of “congregational” (the congregation sang every song) worship songs, 3 selections by the men’s choir, a kids group, and kids dance group, and a special group during the sermon. Speaking of which the sermon was everything I expected, classic black preaching, lots of yelling and sweating, and awesome cadence, organ and drums coming in at the good parts, it was pretty cool. Oh and by the way the service was 2.5 hours long (11-1:30)

PROS – Lots! I love the generational and racial diversity of this congregation. It’s amazing. They are very welcoming. I got a sweet hug as soon as I stepped through the door and most of the ushers/greeters where older black women who reminded me for all the world of my grandmother McNally – short, soft, sweet and more than able to kick some butt should the need arise. They did a great job making me feel welcome. The preaching was very passionate and inspirational

CONS – I’m not one to rush church but 2.5 hours is pushing even my limits. Not by much though. They did a deal where they congratulated every kid in the church who had graduated or received and award or tied their shoes all by themselves over tha past year and it moved slow and awkwardly. There was definitely some effort put into getting people emotions worked up into a good lather which ain’t for me. Nothing I’d call manipulative (in the negative sense) but a bit much at times. The preaching was a little light on content and substance but it was a unique day so that may not be the general practice.

FINAL THOUGHTS – Cool church, if it wasn’t 30 min away and I was looking for a home church I might consider going there. All the emotion would probably get old after a few weeks though and I’d head somewhere else. I will say this church is a great testimony that you can be a church for lots of different kinds of people in an awful location and still be effective and certainly one of the cooler ones I’ve ever been too.

QUESTIONS RAISED
-Is there a way to strategically build racial diversty into a church that does not have it? Would i work better to start with a "minority" church and add white people to it or the other way around
-How do you build such a large, thriving, growing ministry in the absolute middle of nowhere?
-Is it acceptable, or even advisable to work hard to get people going emotionally since that's part of our personhood. How much is too much, what ways are ok?

Church Visits: Episode 3

CHURCH – Life Bridge Community (2yrs ish)

LOCATION – Auburn Drive High School, the Burbs

BUILDING – They meet in a High School “cafetorium” (it’s just a cafeteria with a stage)

CONGREGATION – Youngish families. I’d say mid 30’s to mid 40’s with a chunk on either side, maybe a few older.

OVERVIEW – These guys are a church plant with the classic “young families in the suburbs” target. The service is completely aimed at the “unconvinced” but the pastor is a decent teacher so you will likely get something out of it even if you have been a Christian for a while. They only do a few songs that all connect to the theme of the message, they intro the message early in the service and then there are some songs, dramas, videos, whatever that continue to introduce the topic. Conversational and pretty applicable teaching style, pretty laid back atmosphere, seeker sensitive but not a willow clone.

PROS – Really cool church and they are being effective. Solid focus on the lost, good preaching, relaxed environment, content driven rather than entertainment or emotion driven.
CONS – Nothing major, if you are a music head it’s a bit underwhelming but that will come with time. I hate cafetoriums but that’s not their fault.

FINAL THOUGHTS - If I was church shopping this is probably where I would go because it’s really cool (and only two blocks away from my house) and they have a clear sense of mission and direction.

Church Visits: Episode 2

Church – Presbyterian Church of Saint David (40 yrs ish)

Location – Pizza Corner - Downtown

Building – Old Methodist Church, historical landmark and falling apart. Shares an intersection with three pizza places.

Congregation – I’d guess the average age was 55-60 with a smattering of younger folks most of whom looked like they had been drug there by someone 55-60

Overview – What I assume is a typical liturgical Presbyterian church of Canada service. Started at 11am and was well wrapped up by noon. Dry as a popcorn fart and only half as interesting.

Pros – The scripture reading was pretty good. Sounded like thay had read it over before and maybe even practiced.

Cons – Where to begin. The minister was pretty severe and had a certain Stalin-esqe quality to him. His sermon was basically that the story of Jesus sending the demons into the pigs is pretty much impossible on every level but it doesn’t matter because it teaches us a nice story about the holistic healing Jesus offers and if we let the evangelicals beat the “good liberal protestants” at telling people that it would be a rally bad thing. And also that Brian McLaren is awesome. Which I have to admit makes me even less interested than I was before in reading Bryan McLaren. Music was all organ and the organist was not the best but he did have fun playing and I enjoyed that. It was a little ray of joy in an otherwise dark experience. He also did a little 5 min solo type deal at the end of the service where he just rocked out for a while. The song was awful although I got the impression that if you were into the organ it would have been cool. I could go on but I’ll stop now.

Final Thoughts – If you ever wonder why mainline protestant churches are rapidly and precariously declining you obviously have never visited this church. And no Jul - I don't think I sensed the presence of God.