Saturday, September 10, 2011

Old War, Part 1

Churches in rich, white towns are just the best. 
We have an abundance of them within a small radius of our home. Fresh on the search, my wife did a mild mapping of a few nearby, and our digital finger stopped the globe on Oneonta. 
On a whispery, residential street twice as wide as any modern road, chunks of ancient sidewalk painfully peaked with roots seeking light, as the arching canopy of elderly oak trees carelessly guided us in. 
We chose the earlier Traditional Service as opposed to the more lax Contemporary Service. I felt great about this, as I wanted the real thing, and enjoyed having two options. I was not at all interested in their newest product, which they had the guts to title “contemporary”. 
The grounds were a bit hard to navigate, though we heard music, until we found a series of small stantion posts with small, hand-written pointers, leading us into one of what I imagine are a few main church halls. 
Oneonta is older, but not like 1800’s old. It shows signs of growth from every few decades. 
Everything was comforting to me. It was like I was at my grandmother’s church, without my grandmother, and I was free to watch it and judge it as I pleased. I felt a bit insecure upon entry, but once we realized there were no awkward greeters, and the entirety of the traditional congregation clustered themselves 40 pews down the aisle towards the pulpit, I was at ease. It also helped that the silver-haired worshippers could not care less that some new kids showed up. 
We came in, found some seats, did a couple over the shoulder hellos before even being prompted, and sat through the service. 
The pastor talked about reaching out to everyone around us and being Christ-like in everyday life. The examples were the post office, the grocery store (including a joke about parking at Ralphs - to a weezy giggled response), and family holidays and functions. What he meant by family functions I could only assume was funerals and reviewing of wills in a lawyer’s office. 
The sermon was disasterously geared towards the wrinkled set of individuals around us. I could almost feel the intelligent, well-spoken, early 40’s pastor looking at my wife and I, and thinking “Gosh you guys, I’m sorry - these decrepit trust fund mummies keep our parking lot paved and our stained glass window repaired - hope you come to the contemporary service after this!” 
I didn’t mind. I tried to apply his message. It was nice not worrying about anyone around us, and not worrying about an onslaught of emotional trampling. The sermon was lovely, and though only obtusely applicable, just nothing to go home with. 
We left without a trace. 

1 comment:

  1. Shawna and I are sitting on the couch together reading your posts, which are filling the space of Sunday morning church-going for us this morning. Pastor Jeff, I like what you have to say. Church really is the best in rich, white towns!

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