Broadcasting
live Sunday morning on the 3 pew form the back on the left hand side. It’s time
for another church service! Let’s do this!
Like most morning
when I roll out of bed, I know I am going to church, I just never know what to
expect. This little church sitting on the side of 109st looks like a calm quite
place. I was greatly mistaken.
I walked
into what seemed to be an older church, all of the same paint on the wall and décor
in tact from the time it was first put there, some time ago. I the carpet was
new, that along with some of the musical instruments at the front of the church,
but otherwise nothing looked changed.
I noticed
that the back of the pews had no bibles in them, just song books, and yes I went
the whole church service without a bible (everyone else brought their own) . It
was not a major issue since the scripture was projected onto the wall at the
front as it was discussed. When I started this project I decided that I would approach
every church as if I was a person that walks in fresh off the street. Which means
I wear jeans, a t-shirt, running shoes, and a jacket and bring no bible with
me. Plain and simple.
From where I
was sitting I noticed that the center pew, 3rd from the front had an
excessive amount of vandalism to the back of it but none others that I could
see had any similar issue. I felt that I might be writing another sad story
about “the dying church” phenomenon. I
was so wrong about that.
A lot of
churches I visit allow me to pass thru in a very anonymous manner. Normally the
only person that knows why I am there , is the sweet granny in front of me that
turns around to shake my hand, then the church leader after I got up to introduce
myself. There is no hiding at this church. Even before the service started, I
am sure that I had personal greeting from more than half the people in the
room. There were roughly 25 people at this church service most of them in the
30-40 year old range and a least half of them were African-Canadian.
As I watched
the set up I stared to realize I was in for a show, especially when I looked to
my right to see a little boy attempting to carrying 2 large tambourines up the aisle.
This worship service actually included 4 tambourines being played while people sang;
I have never seen more than one in use anywhere else.
Anyone that
knows me will say I am a passionate female musician and fully encourage music
education. So you can understand how heart warming when I saw a vibrant young
lady in a bright colored dress walk past me with a guitar case strapped to her
back, and move to the front to set up. She sang a played beautifully and her future
is bright.
At this church
there is a song for everything, and everyone sings at the top of their voice
without holing back. Start of the service end of the service, during communion,
during the offering, there is a song for all of it! This often includes hand clapping,
foot stomping, hand waving, and of course, many tambourines. Very little will hold this passionate group of
worshipers back. Even if the instruments fall out of time with the singing,
they just keep going.
Before we
stared the bible lesion for the day, the leader of the church asked if there
was anyone new there today ( it was me and one other gentleman) we went up and received
a new pen with the churches name on it, and then something happened that I have
never encountered before, I was asked to go up and speak in front of a church.
Wow. Blew me
away!
After my speech
we sat down and had our bible lesson. At this point I started to realize how
totally unique this church was to any others that I have come and seen yet so
far. What really got me was the leader of the church. She spoke about god with
this 110% confidence that I have never seen before. In a lot of churches you
will hear things like “we pray the lord to be with us today….” But at the CCC
the message is “GOD is HERE! TODAY! RIGHT NOW!”, “Miracles CAN happen in this
room TODAY!” There is no room for an ounce
of doubt in her message.
You are
taught in school that when the teacher ( or preacher in this case) is taking
that you need to stay quite. Not here. In this church it is perfectly
acceptable to yell thru the service phrases like “thank you god” “praise the
lord” “hallelujah” and may other words of joy.
One of the stories
in the service today was talking about the woman that lived with hunched over
back for 18 years that was healed. Jesus was at the synagogue doing his regular
Sunday preaching when a woman suffering a seriously bad back wondered in the
door. Jesus stopped, spoke to the woman, removed the spirit of infirmity that plagued
her and she stood up tall and was healed. The some bone-headed man spoke up and
said that Jesus was being a bad example because he had just healed a woman , technically
he had just “preformed work on the Sabbath” which the ancient Jews was not tolerated.
So Jesus looks at this guy and pretty much tells he to stick it up his rear-end
and to think of the 18 years of torture this poor woman has been suffering. The
crowd was ashamed of themselves to say the least.
There was
also mention of Lazarus, a personal friend of Jesus’. One days when he is out
and about, Jesus gets word that his good friend Lazarus had died, and so he
rushes to his home to go see. His family had already raped this guy of for burial
( in an almost mummy like fashion) and were pretty much carrying him away to
put him in his burial chamber. Jesus was able to stop them before they closed
the door, he went to his friends body and confronted and removed the spirit of
death that had taken over his friend. Still wrapped in his burial clothes Lazarus
sat up alive as ever and any non-believers in the crowd had all doubt removed. Christ
is the messiah. I particularly like this story because it is not just someone
that is ill or suffering that is healed, this person is stone cold dead. It
just shows the powers of god authority over death. Now for my favorite poster.
Communion
was had, juice and soda crackers and at the end there was something I would
have never expected. There was a special prayer, a personal prayer to take a
moment to connect with god to ask him to come and work thru you to help heal
any physical ailments that you might be suffering. So with open hands and raised heart the church
broke out speaking to the heavens for god to come into them and work his hand against
any physical issues they might be suffering. And if you know me, you know what I
prayed for. My feet.
Now this
last part I almost forgot but I could not help but notice this little singe in
the front lawn of the church, and if any of you ride the buses I am sure you
have seen this too…
I must
admit, it was marketed supper well because from the ads on the bus I was not
quite sure what it was. But I did finally discover what it was. It is basically
a 7-10 day introduction course in Christianity for newcomers. So it is mainly
just an opportunity for people to get a lot of questions answered. It is run by
Alpha Canada and is being held thru a verity of churches in Edmonton.
I may have
over 80 churches to go, but I would come back to this one any day, and I think
you should too! God is great and he lives every Sunday in the little Corner
Stone Church on 109st.
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