Church #8. City Center Church

Are you a 20 something year old in college, dead broke, confused, stressed and living on a diet of instant noodles and beer?  This might the church for you.  For real’s, this is YOUR place to feel alive.

 I was pretty excited to go to this place because I had an old friend there who works as part of the church and was the person that headed the grant mac bible study on floor 8. Yes I am talking about you Ryan :P  . I knew this place would be different for many reasons, first being that the service is held in an old movie theater that is one block from my work downtown.  This is the highest population church I have been to yet, 200 on an average Sunday I am told (but I could swear it looked like more) , almost all 20 something year old college students and 85% of them girls. At least half of the service was provided by the church “worship team” which included 6 college age girls and guys all playing guitars keyboard, drums and vocals rocking out some modern worship music. There is no sitting quietly in this place most people are standing with their hands raised to the lord, dancing, singing with their kids on their shoulder you name it they are doing it.  

Another thing that caught my eyes was a rough natural looking cross likely made of two huge logs aprox15 feet high and sticker-ed in band aids. This apparently came from the service one week earlier, where church members went up and stuck a band aid on the cross and took a moment to think of a blessing that they enjoy in their daily lives that they often forget about and are often ungrateful for.

Overall, it’s a  pretty casual place, everyone just kind of rolls into church wearing whatever they feel like. But one thing that I noticed when waiting for the bathroom is that a lot of girls still came in some form of dress or skirt. This I find interesting because this church is not traditional or conservative in the least. Even the head speaker of the church for that day looked like a 27 year old hipster.  There was a lot of interesting quotes that day. My personal favorites include “Jesus is on Facebook!” , “Jesus is on Instagram!” “Everyone is talking about Jesus” , “ I don’t remember what I had to drink that night” ,  “ Starbucks gave us free coffee, say WHHHAATTTTTT? :P"

I felt like this church is really with the times.  They had a few announcements and a lot of them were very interesting and refreshing. Such as; they required a need sound person to be trained to work the sound boards and directly encouraged women to step up and apply for the position because the stereotype of the “sound man” has reigned for to long. That and they are the first church where I have seen the option to pay your offering by E-transfer, debit or automatic bank withdrawals.

There was a lot of speakers that day….ho man :P

We had a short speech from a female Cree Church leader who was announcing a new church community group that has the goal of encouraging first nation’s people to come together and feast and draw themselves closer to god. She spoke of how she lived in a polluted world as a young person full of drugs crime, hatred, suicide and murder. Her cousin was the only church leader in the community, he was 19.  And that in one night the elders build a fire and some of the young people came forward to purge themselves of all the evil within them.  And after that the whole community changed for the better.  This woman called for the revival for the native population and totally inspired me and hopefully others in the room.

Then we had another speaker that went for much longer, he was what looked to be a young enthusiastic 30-ish year old man with the style of an Alberta cowboy meats Southern preacher.  I wish I could compile all of the heart and power of that mans speech into a blog but sadly I can’t.  But I can tell you what I got from it, that we all play an important part in gods dream for the world, that we need to trust god and be brave and fallow it no matter how daunting the path, and that there are others with a common dream that will be willing to help you along the way.

Lastly there was an advertisement for the men to get together  for a “simulcast”  and the name of this event was “For  god sake fight”, obviously orienting  themselves toward the notably small male population there.  Which bring me to my topic of focus for this week. Men aren’t showing up to church, straight up. And its true. And that is probably even more true in the churches orientated towards young people as far as I can tell. And just by looking at the crowd you can tell that half of the men that are in there were coaxed into coming by their girlfriends.  But I noticed that 5% which was the men that were there on their own free will, where totally into it and had no questions, no dough’s, no shame and all love for what they were doing on Sunday mornings.  Everyone has theories on why men don’t wanna  go to church. But here is mine.  In order to open yourself to god’s love you need to leave yourself vulnerable open and at his love and mercy. Men hate feeling vulnerable even on a good day, if you have ever been in a relationship with one? It’s like pulling teeth for them to even tell you about little things never mind throwing their soles down before god! !! so here is my advice, men GO TO CHURCH AND ENJOY IT!!!! Or at the very least pretend to enjoy it!!!! You don’t need to go to the bar on ladies night anymore, there are more cute young women looking for a man of god in this building then you can shake a stick at! They say church is the best place to find your future husband, and who know you might even get lucky ;)

Overall one of the best church experiences I have had yet and I really hope the rest could even come close to this. So much love and god bless all of you and heal you from your hangovers and help you scrub the permanent marker off your forehead.

Church #7. Look to the Cross for Victory

O man, where do I even start…. Ok well I guess I should mention that I found this church so awesome that I almost considered quitting my mission just to stay and hang out with these guys. So the actual service isn’t actually in a church. Its in a community hall that they rent out every Sunday and just clean up  and leave after their done. Very small group, 12 people maybe, all of them in their 20-30s ish. When I arrived for what I thought would be the start of the service was actually the start of breakfast, which involved a large cereal buffet and a chance to sit-down and meet people. Just a heads up, there are defiantly some people in this church are high energy and loud and expressive, so you might want to hold on to your socks when you walk in. if i walked in there again and someone ran up to me screaming and gives me a hug that knocks both of us to the ground, I would not be surprised.

But what’s different about with place is the fact that almost every member of this church has plugs, tattoos; (the pastor has a full sleeve on his left arm.)  And all kinds of crazy haircuts. If there was such thing as a punk/alternative friendly church this would be it. I met all kinds of people that day including what I think I was a gay couple? Maybe? Don’t fully remember, but defiantly an all inclusive environment. This is the place where the people that don’t care for church can go and worship and fit in.  

Let me start with my friend Shawn (hi Shawn, and yes I know your reading this *waves. Lol) also known as the notorious “pirate pastor” he didn’t have the costume on that day but I am told he is known to dress up on occasion. This guy rocks a shaved head, full beard, piercings, tattoos and has the most wicked punk jacket I have ever seen. He is also a self-proclaimed anarchist, and has some very interesting theories on how he believes the law structure in biblical times supports the anarchist method of self governance. (Seriously, talk to the dude about it sometimes, will blow your mind.) Most of the service was him sitting cross legged on the floor of the stage singing and playing guitar and then his lovely wife pitched in to do a scripture discussion with us.

We also had some light moments of humor provided by his 2 young children and their “contributions” to the service. Lol. Such as randomly running up on the stage and hiding behind the curtains. :P

I totally wish I could remember more of the details of what happened but with the double deadly sin of laziness, I failed to take notes and don’t have much more to add. Miss you guys so much and I can’t wait to come back and visit! God bless you crazy peoples! :P

 

Church #6. All Saints Anglican Cathedral

If you ever feel like you have been thrown into the Disney movie, The Hunch back of Notre Dame, chances are you have stumbled into the All Saints Anglican Cathedral. It seriously resembles it, just shrunk down quite a bit. For an Edmonton church its quite large, very elongated and has amazing stain glass panels which are accompanied by 30 foot long quilted banners (must have taken an army of grandmas for those) and many, many rows of long benches.

            Today was a “special day” apparently as it was the “fest of St. Michael and all the Angles” cool :P We also got to learn what the name “Michael” actually means. It’s a question. It is “who is god?” which I find kind of interesting because now I know the meaning f my dad’s first and middle names. The service had a lot of notably old fashioned aspects to it with the procession of the choir up and down the aisles, (awesome voices) and there being a large variety of vested speakers and leaders ( hold on let me roll out the list…..) so this Sunday we had a Bishop, Dean, Vicar, Canon Missioner, Reverend Canon, Deacon etc. ( the list goes on, I am not sure if every single one of them was there, but there was A LOT. )

Despite all this I didn’t perceive this church to be all that stuffy or conservative at all. Right from the beginning I noticed that the church applauded after the blessing of a new table and moving it, and then once again after someone rocked an organ solo at the end of the service. I know some people who heads would blow up if they heard people applause in a church. Over to my right had side I was shocked to see a podium made from a giant gold eagle (Neo-Nazi what??????)  it looked like something I saw Hitler give a speech at in an old piece of film when i was studying WWII. I was quick to ask about it and I was told that apparently the eagle is strongly associated with St.John and that is why it’s there. Things you learn.

Speaking of “quick” I found an odd use of that word today. We were reading the Nicene Creed and you know the long where it says “and he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.” Throw out the word “living” and replace it with “quick” that is what I saw. I discovered that “quick” can be translated from middle English to mean “living”.

The speaker I most enjoyed was Vicar who had a very good sermon with much passion and made an interesting cross reference to Celtic mythology (such metal head) lol. He is also the first speaker in a church that I have seen that can walk in and do his sermon with socks, sandals, his vestments, long hair and multiple ear piercings and everyone walks out loving him. *Hi Five!

             The population of this place was larger than anything I have yet seen 4 dozen people at this place, not counting at least another dozen plus in the choir and leaders. A lot of seniors all, look in surprisingly good health, and a handful of random people (including me), and only like 3 kids maybe?

I decided to receive Holy Communion today, solely based on the fact that it felt right to me. It’s not my first communion, but lest just say I decided not to take it at the last 5 churches (or they didn’t happen to offer it) and let’s just say it’s been a while. What surprised me with this ceremony was 2 things. #1. The wine was real, #2. and the guy that offered it to me looked like a very buff Mr.Clean with 3 very large gauge curved barbell piercings hanging on his left ear. As much as I would be afraid to pick a fight with this guy, from noticing him earlier, I can see that he has a very warm loving side and that gods light is within him.

Over all really enjoyed this church and will totally put it on my list of ones to come back to. 

Church #5. Strathcona Presbyterian Church

I see pretty colours :P …… lol.  So this last Sunday was a Presbyterian church as you could have guessed. And upon entrance there is one major thing you notice. SUPER AMAZING BEAUTIFUL STAIN GLASS WORK!  Credit to the person that made the panels in that church, god blessed them with some kick-ass art skills.  But on a less positive note I also noticed the walls, filled with massive cracks, this was my first indication that this church, like many others is at risk of dying. 

As most Sundays, I pick a random bench and end up introducing myself to some sweet little old lady and having a conversation.  Today we had a conversation on what I will refer to as the “dyeing church syndrome” . Because lets be real, that is exactly what is happening to its patrons, and with a lack of a younger generation coming in to the church to refresh the population, it will all be “to dust” as they say.

As our conversation continued I made a point of say there are A LOT of reasons you don’t have a younger generation coming to church.  And I am sure all of you reading this, church go-er or not can think if a long list of your own reasons. But one thing I will throw out there only because I have heard this issue brought up by church leaders themselves is the fight to be progressive. In the past 5 church’s I have been to almost all of the leaders have expressed concerns over their daily struggle to make the sermons more progressive and modern. This at times has met with outrage, from what is generally the most senior population, and in some cases has added to people leaving the church. These leaders are doing their best to hold and progress their church and I pray for them.

The population mix here was similar to most 2 dozen people with the odd young couple and a hand full of children. Well more than a handful at this one. More like 10!

The sermon’s theme today was “you can’t serve god and money” it was an intriguing story from Jesus that she brings up that really doesn’t fit the rest of his teachings (I have my own theories on this). But despite it being a real odd one she found a way to pull a positive moral story out of something that would seem very immoral. Credit for her on that.

We also sung the Lord’s Prayer today (never done that before).  And you know that line that normally says “Forgive us our trespasses and those that have trespassed against us”. When I was singing this thing and they threw out the word “trespass” for “debt, and debtors” ? I asked the reverend afterwards about this and she told me that there is more than one “lord’s prayer” written in the bible and also the bible being re-translated at MILLION times, that word has been swapped put with “debt”, “sins”, “trespass” and many others. She also mentioned to me that they use the “debt” line because it comes for an older version and that this church offers a more “traditional” service…..o god you’re telling me (see angry rant below).

This was defiantly one of those services where I was sitting there gritting my teeth trying not to throw something…. Because there was a lot of “our future is in god’s hands”, “we have no control over gods will”, “we must submit to god” etc. and my only thought is…….

NO FUCKING COMMENT!

So after the service I made my way down stairs to cool down and have a nice cup of tea and awesome homemade cinnamon swirls. Everyone I met was very kind and loving and would have me back any day.  

 This church is like the tea they serve, warm and welcoming, but the flavor is not to my taste.  Thanks guys. Time for me to march forward. *stomp *stomp *stomp.

Church #4. Garneau United Church

           By request of one of my good face book friends I decided to check out a United church today. Not to say that I haven’t been to a united church before. I have been to a few different ones on occasion but,  gotta have a fresh one for the blog.

 So I rolled my butt out of bed this morning to walk 6 blocks to go check out this place. It is in one odd looking building set up for a church. It is pretty much an open meeting area of the entry way to a very fancy apartment complex. But it works…. The service is mostly seniors and there were 24 people-ish? Including a few parents and their kids. The reverend was a very warm fellow, Santa clause like in appearance, who is accompanied by his wife who also preaches. Here was notably what would look like middle school science poster displaying a scientific diagram of the earth hanging from the podium. The alter was something interesting, lol. It was apparently a sermon on themed on “fonna and flora” and “the season of creation”. so the alter and the table in front of it was covered in fish nest with wildlife pics attached to it with a plant sitting on it and a blow of fruit and of course the rainbow candle.

This particular United congregation is a certified “Affirming congregation” which means that they have decided to accept sexual diversity as a gift, not a sin and that gay people can be members and leaders of the church.

            There was a lot of singing in this church, and despite the age and limited abilities of its patrons, I do really fell like there was some very real worshiping going on (I felt a lacking that in some of the last few sad to say) . 

             I got to talk to the reverend and his wife afterwards and he is a top notch guy but what I really give him credit for is his work with the kids. During the service he ask the children to bring out the “magic carpet” which they did, and placed it at the center front of the church . And despite what I am sure were very well warn knees and hips the reverend carefully lowered himself down to it on the carpet with the children to do their special lesson for the day. The even bigger thing to me is that in that lesson he looked the kids in the eye and honestly admitted to them they he had done “a bad thing” when he tells the tale that he cut down a tree in his yard ,that they latter discovered to be over 100 years old, and now regrets doing so.  

            Over all I was very impressed and I am thankful for my experience today at the Garneau United Church and the new read i was given “Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism” by John Shelby Spong.

            Love you guys! You ROCK!