This week we
go big! Really Big! Mega size!!!! I was actually a friend that suggested this church
to me. I didn’t even know it existed. I couldn’t even get to consider it was
nearly out of city limits. But that is what generous friends with cars are for.
We agreed
that we didn’t feel ambitious enough to get up for the morning service so we oppted
for the 6pm one. We got there early, and I had read on the website that there
was some other pre-service ritual that would be going on that was optional. I
had no idea what it was thou. So this is
what the outside looks like.
And the
other area…
There were
two greeters at the doors as we come in. you could tell this place was very
new. Very modern sleek design all done in white and grey. I expected we would
just head right to the main theater and sit and wait, but it wasn’t opened
yet. We were directed do the hall to a
large side room with open doors and found it full of people praying. Matt
entered immediately fallowed by me; however his girlfriend Sara didn’t feel
comfortable entering the room and stayed outside. This room had people
expressing their form of prayer in all different manners. Some were kneeling down with their heads on chairs;
some people were pacing the length of the room back and forth with hands held
open. Some prayed allowed, some in silence, some were singing. One guy had his
fists clichéd raised in the air shouting his worship to the sky. I needed to be very sneaky but I was able to
manage some photos.
I joined the
worship with my friend beside me well dressed in a nice shit, his skinny jeans
and a pair of red Doc Martians. I never took the time to ask Matt what his spiritual
beliefs were. But it was him that asked me to come explore this church with him
and here he stands beside me in this room full of very intense worship with his
hands raised.
Some part of
me is always kind of surprised when I find spiritual people in the
metal/punk/alternative world. The overall environment is very anti-religion so
a person of faith in that environment often has to stay very quite.
One clear
example of this that I remember comes from my bible study days at Grant
MacEwan. We generally had our standard group of 8-10 people that would come but
we would get visitors some days. One night, in drops one guy I would never
expect. And no it was not Jesus.
It was an old friend I knew from the heavy metal
scene back in my home town that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Not too much had
chanced with him, he was just as tattooed, priced and a metal as ever. This guy
walks in with his bible and sits down and has this immediate expression of relief
and comfort. He started talking enthusiastically as if he hadn’t seen another Christian
he could talk to in a very long time, and immediately pulled out his I phone
and showed us his “Read the Whole Bible in a Year app” and yes, there is an app
for that. He was working as security at a major music venue at the time well
staffed with a lot of other metal heads. Only his closest friends knew that he
was actually a very strict Christian (who only allowed himself one glass of
wine a day). But those few people he did tell about his faith would back him up
100% and would not let other people give him shit for it. I respect those guys,
life is made so much better with good friends.
I digress back to Christ City.
When the
worship in the side room was done, we re-grouped and headed into the main auditorium.
It was HUGE!!!!!
I knew the
band was set up for a stage, but it look the lights going down to the point where I could not see my not
book and the fog machines going off for me to realize this was going to be
quite the show. Then the 7 piece rock band kicked in and it was show time! I
took a moment for me to stop and realize I was in a church because it felt almost
exactly like a concert at Rexal.
There were
many interesting sights I spotted. That of which included; a Goth-lady with
long white hair and a back bowler hat holding a little boy, people jogging on
the spot during the song “Run for You” and a 70 year old man in a full suit
jumping up and down, a dude in his Edmonton Eskimos jersey and many other happenings.
There was a
line in one of the songs that said. “Let the whole earth sing in the freedom we
know.” I like that.
There were
around 200 people. Full family mix this time. Including a surprising amount of
young men that actually don’t appear to be drug there by their girlfriends but
have actually intentionally gone together as a group of guys and came to church.
This is something I have not seen before.
After the
singing worship was finished the offering was taken right away with church volunteers
using flowerpots to serve as a collection bowl. There was a separate kid’s cub
that was mentioned, I’m guessing some kind of a Sunday school program. There
was also mention of “corporate prayer” and “the corporate body worshiping god”.
I have never seen this term before. From what I concluded it simply means a group
of people worshiping god instead of just private individual worship. Not saying
the both are not just as effective and important, but group worship definitely
has some degree of enrichment that comes with having others pray with you.
The topic of
the service today’s was “getting closer to god”, in which they examined a verity
of passage that encourage us to continuously strive to become the most holy, loving and spiritual people
that we can become. Here are some quotes from that.
“God has no
issues with personal boundaries.”
“My burden
is light”
“You can
always get closer to god”
“Jesus satisfied
the prophecy.”
“We cannot
fall back to the old ways of the Israelite”
“God’s Grace
goes beyond all sin no matter how deep”
“When you
seek me you will find me”
“God does
not play hide and seek, that is a man’s game.”
“You cannot
hide from god but you can miss him.”
“Seeing god
is a passionate activity”
“Draw near
to god and he will draw near to you”
“The serpent
convinced them that their lives would be better without god and it would be
better to serve themselves.”
“I am your shield”
Contrary to
the stereotype of mega churches we were at no time encourage to buy anything
but in fact we were actually given free stuff!
If you come to the front desk and say you are new you can get a welcome
gift bag which includes a water bottle, trident layer gum, and info about the
church. Did I mention they make their own coffee?
Over all a
cool experience. I really feel that is one of these churches that is out to celebrate
their salvation and “spread the good news”. I personally love to see that in a
church. One finally shout-out to my cool friends that came along for the ride,
this article would not be possible without you!
