Church #23 Moravian Church of Edmonton. July 13 2014.

Ok. Let’s do this…

Heading to the church this morning was a bit concerned considering it was one of the hottest forecasted days this year. I knew that there was a string chance that I might sweat to death, but thankfully it wasn’t that bad.

This is one of the few times that I have actually worn a skirt to church in a while, solely on my own choice. I still see a consistent skirt wearing trend amongst women of all ages in the many churches I have seen regardless of age or how traditional they are/or are not. Maybe it has to do with the whole “modesty” thing? Dressing nicely? Excuse to wear a skirt? All I know is that I see it everywhere.

So this is the inside of the church. 

Some very nice quilted banners * round of applause for all the grannies that surely made that possible.

The church had aprox 30 people in it, mostly seniors, and a had few people in their 20’s. No kids this time. But one thing I did notice at the very back was a elderly man who appeared to have some form of developmental disability. He didn’t seem to have very effective speaking skills but was still very friendly, and seemed to be very interested in his Disney Princess book? (or that is at least what it looked like) .

The worship stared and then after one song we were asked to stand up and great our neighbor. I met a peasant middle aged fellow in front of me, he had a purple shirt on and orange rimmed glasses, he said “Hi, my name is Duck!” …..I might have misheard that. I can’t be sure. LOL.

The pastor was vibrant young lady, who spoke well and with great enthusiasm. She also had a slight accent ( I latter discovered that she is originally from North Carolina) In this time I also shook hands with a very tall and thick set man in his early thirties, he introduced himself as “Rebecca’s Husband”. Ps. Rebecca is the name of the pastor.  I noticed that thru the service that she was more than willing to take in his wife’s words as she stood at the front and spoke. He also took the worship very seriously.

Normally in most churches there is some type of a projector screen at the front of the room. Normally displaying the words to songs or the bible passages being read. Well let’s just say today the projector was out of order and we had to do things old school, so there was a lot of flipping pages back and forth between the song book and then the bibles, but it didn’t bother me much. We had a lady that came up and read a poem that she wrote called “Time Marches On.” I felt it was well done.

One of the things I really noticed with this pastor is that she really pushes for this church to interact with the service. I feel it to be a bold move to take on this approach considering that this church was mainly filled with the elderly that were possibly raised in a church were you shut-up and never think for yourself. I know far too well that some old people do not accept change gracefully. She took a chance pushing these seniors slightly out of their comfort zone with the addition of new activities and interactions. And I am happy to report that it all appears to be very positive and highly effective!

One thing that she asked of her congregation today was to think about “all the people you know (and yourselves) with their own personal gifts and how we can encourage them to use those gifts in the community.” Then she had this thing set up. 

So the whole idea is that you meditate on yourself and others and decide how you will act to help put this all in motion. Then you were encouraged to go to the front of the room and take a Dixie cup full of sand and poor it into the vase as your commitment to using your own gifts for the betterment of other and encouraging others to do the same.  The pastor continuing to say “God’s love shapes us our whole lives, from start to finish.”

The bible passage reviewed today was that of the Samaritan woman. You know, the part where she goes to the well in the hot day sun and Jesus asks her for a drink and she is shocked at this because Jew+Samaritan= no interaction EVER. 

And he tells her that if she drinks from this well she will always become thirsty again, but he drinks from his well, she will never be thirsty ever again. All along this lady is putting the puzzle pieces together and starting to think that his guy may be this “messiah” that has been spoken about. Bu here is the thing that you don’t normally hear about, the rest of their conversation. Including the part where Jesus looks at her and says “You have had 5 husbands, and the one you have right now is not your husband.” Holly Hanna! Did not see that coming! I knew that the Samarian woman was “divorced” but I guess there is a bit more to it than that.  I felt this needed a bit more of an in-depth look. A nice link here for your convenience.

http://www.gotquestions.org/woman-at-the-well.html

After all this we were encouraged to intermingle and discuss our ideas or how to use our personal gifts and how to encourage others. There was a lot of talking but I couldn’t really get a word in. But in my mind that was ok. There was a lady in my group that was talking a lot about having a book club or a book exchange. At one point the pastor came around and handed out sticky notes, for us to write our ideas down on.

The rest of the service consisted of the offering prayer requests, and making announcements. One of the elderly lades stood up and told the church that she is now the proud great grandmother of twin boys. God help that mother. She is going to need it!  

I was reading the pamphlet I was given at the door and I noticed the term “homebound”. Now reflecting on it I more clearly realize what it means, but to begin with, I did not interoperate it as people that are so ill that they can’t leave their house. When I first saw this term, my impression was that this list of people had passed away.  How I made this connection was the fact that the praise “being called home” Is often said in relation to a person that has just died. Hence my impression of the term “homebound”.

One of the last things that happened was a announcement that one of the church members new baby granddaughter was just baptized recently in their church.  I personally grew up in a family that baptized me as a baby, and I have no issue with it. But I have been to other places and talk to some people who highly disagree with it. I have even encountered one lady that had enough gumpf to tell me my baptism was “illegitimate”. Which I think is bull-shit and deeply hurtful.

But it still got me wondering, what does it really mean to be baptized as a baby? Cause as an adult it is a full personal choice to commit one’s self to fallowing Christ. A baby doesn’t have that ability to make that choice or understand it at that time.  So what does it all mean? According to this pastor it means that the parents of the child commit to teaching this child about god and the congregation commits to help be supportive.

The more you know.

Church #22. Our Lady Queen of Poland. Saturday July 5, 2014.

5 pm on a Saturday, and I’m in church.  Go figure.  Most people would look at me and think I am crazy, but I can assure you it was worth it for two reasons. #1 the party didn’t start till 7pm.  #2 it was like most Catholic churches I have been to, SUPER INTERESTING!!!!!  This was one of the few that I actually gain so much information on I had to spill it over its designated space on my note book.  Hold on to your boots, it gonna be a long one.

So this is the view from the outside. 

But getting to a service at this church was a little more complicated then you think.  What I mean by that is the fact that the only have ONE English service a week. The other 7 or so are all in Polish. Hence why I was there on a Saturday evening at the English service.

As per-usual I was not sure when door to enter. Luckily I had a lady go before me and lead me the way. Something new I noticed was a little bowl of water attached to the wall, which the person before me stopped to  touch her fingers to it and then cross herself before entering the rest of the church. 

The population was smaller here, maybe about 30 people. Mostly seniors as usual.  But I can tell you one thing, there was at least a third of the population there that was clearly not polish. (Might have spotted some Philippineo’s and Korean’s? Can’t be sure thou.) Another thing I saw officially for the first time was a senior eastern European lady with a babushka on praying with a rosary.

One thing I must say about this service, is that the Priest we had today leading the service LOVES HIS JOB. The kindness and sincerity of this man was simply shining the entire time during the service. His robes were white and resembled the chef style that I saw back on Knox-Metropolitan on 109st.  Ps. this church I’m in today is Catholic.

He also added a Green garment that went over his robes part way thru the service. When I asked him about this latter, he mentioned to me that different colors are for different parts of the year. At this moment the time of Easter is now over and we are into “a regular time period” hence the green. 

He added at the beginning of the service “I would like you for forgive my mistakes in English today”. I am not going to lie when I say I had to strain myself at times to understand what he was saying thru that thick polish accent. I am sure I missed parts of it too. He says that “Jesus calls us to trust in the future” a difficult task, for me and others alike, but I would probably be better off if I didn’t worry so much. Fact.

Another surprise came to me when he mentioned that he was available to contact for counsel 24 hours a day! I know that comes with regular duties as being a church leader, but I know few especially at this man’s ages that are so committed to it! Good on him!

Another surprise came with a young fellow clean cut in his mid 20’s (and a very nice suit) that came up to the podium part way in the service and gave a short speech. This speech related to hikers going up mountains, Christian life and our own daily struggles. It all summed up to the idea of how hard it can be, spending so much time hiking up hill in life, feeling like we will never see the end, but knowing that we can reach the top.  Sometime the conditions are good, sometimes they are poor but in the end when we reach the top, and find that overwhelming sense of accomplishment, joy, peace, and finally rest. Heaven. Sounds good to me.

He also brings up the line where it says “come on to me all ye who are carrying heavy burdens”. When I hear this it is what I think of. 

Man that thing weighted a ton! And some days I feel I am still carrying it. Jesus can take my back pack any day!

This church also featured a painting of Time Magazines person of the year. Cousin, eat your heart out! I know you’re a big fan! :P 

In the second part of the service a new topic was addressed. The missionary work this church is doing in the country of Turkmenistan. I didn’t not see that one coming. Apparently this priest and the rest of his team went over to this country 17 years ago and started form the ground up. They had no church, no followers and almost all of the country was Muslim. Slowly they went around a made friends and found fellow Christians in the country. He also stated that “hospitality is excellent amongst Arab people.” He spoke of how you never need to phone ahead, or say how many are coming, you just show up and are welcome in. Plain and simple.  He also stated that they “never had any problems and everyone respecting”.

A point of interest he brought up was that it always seemed to be the women that go to church and he men would be missing ( I also see this frequently ) . He asked these women where their husbands were. And they would always have a mixed verity of excuses. However the priest expressed his thinking that the real reason these men were missing was alcoholism. Another interesting fact was that these women who were new Christians really enjoyed having a Sabbath. By that I mean that normally they would just be going all-out with all their regular house work without ever having a real day of rest. They expressed how much they enjoyed their new schedule where they would finish all the house work on Saturday and Sunday they would rest, go to church, pray, and meet with friends. During the mission there they have baptized 22 people. Some of them were Muslims that simply decided that they want to fallow Jesus.

But not all of this was sunshine and roses. Like one situation that was mentioned with a lady being concerned, with her family rejecting her for going to church. They apparently told hr straight up that if she keeps going to church and becomes a Christian they will not attend her funereal. So the priest gave his words of comfort to her in the form  of expressing the fact that only god knows if we will die before or after other people, so who knows what will happen?

Another thing I haven’t seen Since the Unitarian Congregation of West Wood. Bells. More precisely the ringing of meditation bells throughout the church service, at certain key points. Nice touch.

After the service was over I met with the priest who was one of the warmest and loving people I will ever know. He greeted me immediately by taking me by both hands looking me in the eye, asking my name and then giving me this great warm hug. He quickly walks me over to the nearest bench so we could sit down with him ready to answer all my questions.

So I broke out my note book and we went thru my list, and one of the questions near the top had to do with the communion. I found it odd in the fact that today we were only offered the “body/bread of the lord” and not the “wine/blood”.  He responded by saying that traditionally services would only give out the bread, and leave out the wine. He did however mention that the church they had in Turkmenistan they would actually offer not only the bread but the wine. But not just once a week on Sundays, but every day of the week!

When I walked in this church I saw something that totally gave it bonus points in my mind. A more ethnically accurate image of what Jesus and Mary actually looked like. 

Keep in mind that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Where is Bethlehem? In a little country know as a Palestine. Last I checked the average citizen there was not blond haired, blue eyed with a light skin tone. I think this baby sums it up well.

I pointed this out a high-fived them for having some degree of historical accuracy. The first I have seen with the skin color issue in 22 churches. I was also told that rumor says that Luke painted the original image of what we normally see as the “Madonna and child” painting out of the kitchen table top of the holly family.

Here is a really good link that give you more on this.

http://pragmaticobotsunite.com/wednesday-open-thread-the-black-madonna-child-dedicated-to-megyn-kelly/

On a final note, I think might have accidently ticked off some people at

 this church. And by that I am referring to the fact that I accidently wore a tank-top because I walked their and it was hot out, so that’s what I wore. ( it had thick straps and was modest for the record) I got some grumpy looks from so old ladies but I don’t give a rats butt what they think.  As a good friend of mine once put it, “ you can’t judge the devotion of a woman by the length of her skirt.”

Ps. I have never seen my middle name spelled with a “W” before.