On to the United Methodists

As promised, I'm back here to write about my visit last Sunday to Spring Creek United Church of Christ. I was drawn to them because they are all-inclusive, progressive, and close to my neighborhood. I was also glad that their Sunday morning service is at 10:30 AM, because I hate getting up early.

I was given a very nice "welcome bag" - a book bag with a pen (a good one, to boot) and a package of microwaveable popcorn (Thank you for "popping in") and literature about the church. The people were very, very friendly and warm. I loved the sermon; the text was taken from the Book of Joshua. I was reminded of the powerful "Baal, we cry to thee: hear and answer us! Heed the sacrifice we offer! Hear us, Baal! Hear, mighty god! Baal, oh answer us! Baal, let thy flames fall and extirpate the foe!" from Mendelssohn's Elijah, which got me to briefly join the Rockford Lutheran Choral Union in the 70's so I could sing in it. Then, the minister started talking about "foreign gods," and I remembered the chorus For He, the Lord our God, He is a jealous God; and He visiteth all the fathers' sins on the children to the third and the fourth generations of them that hate Him. His mercies on thousands fall - on all them that love Him and keep His commandments. And I knew, sadly, that I was a long ways from the tradition that's always been a part of me.

And I realized that I am never going to find a church that uses that beautiful old language. I left the Episcopal Church in 1978 when they quit using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal 1940, and stopped singing the Healey Willan setting of the Mass. I also realized that I don't think I can go back to the Episcopal Church. I'm still not sure why, except for the fact that the one on Spring Creek Road doesn't have a pipe organ, and I can't imagine an Episcopal church with an electronic one.

Back to the United Church of Christ. They have a beautiful prayer and anointing for others and ourselves. As I said, the people are welcoming and I knew a few of them. I also learned how to pronounce Asherah (AH'-shera) - which means "Moongoddess." There was a well-known Rockford acoustic guitarist who played intricate, flawless melodies and accompaniments.  What was there not to like?

I'm going to start out by sounding defensive - I'm sorry. I refuse to call myself a snob. That is a mean, unfair word. I don't think I'm any better than anyone else. But, as a musician who cut my teeth in churches and minored in music with emphasis on church organ, I reserve the right to worship where the music is traditional and yes - even formal. I get that most churches these days are going to use piano and guitar along with the pipe organ unless you go to the Church of England - I take that back: Elton John played and sang Candle In the Wind at Princess Di's funeral, and I'm quite sure he used an electronic keyboard. But I need a church that at least uses the organ as part of the Sunday service - and I have to concede that nothing beats a good pipe organ.

At Spring Creek UCC, the music was jazzy and peppy. There was electronic keyboard and guitar. The choir was good - they sang on key. The congregation passed the peace. The coffee was great afterwards, and I got to see old friends. I left with a feeling of grace, and with a decision: I won't be joining this church. I sat down with my journal and made a list, at random, of the reasons:

• They say "Forgive Us Our Debts" instead of "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" in the Lord's Prayer. I mean it literally when I say that I am not ashamed of my debts - I pay off my credit card every month and I have a clear title to my car, but I am notorious for oversharing and being nosy. I need to pray the Lord's Prayer asking for the ability to discern when I am violating boundaries. Theologians will say that I'm misinterpreting the debts/trespasses debate, but I call it as I hear it. My TMI disturbs people - which begs the question: Who reads this blog?
• The minister does not wear vestments. I want the pastor/priest/minister/reverend to look like one. (unless it's summer and the air conditioning isn't working)
• There are chairs, not pews. I thought this wouldn't bother me, but to me, chairs in a big room are too much like the library auditorium. 
• Speaking of the library, where I worked for 35 years, I must have some big issues with that place. One of my dear friends, retired (as I am) from the from the library, is very active in that congregation. I like her, but she served in as a lay worship leader for the service I attended. I couldn't help it - I know her so well, and she spoke at so many Staff Institute Days when we were both working at the library, I felt like I was back at an all-employees meeting at my former workplace. Also, she was a supervisor there, and I'm not sure I could ever feel like I'm her peer. I sigh when I write this - she always has something interesting to say - but I am so OVER Rockford Public Library. I have severed the cord and there's no turning back. Or - at least I thought so.
• The textbook for their adult education classes is The Bible For Dummies. Really?
• They do not sing the Doxology. When I attended the United Methodist Church of Geneva, Illinois with my mother and the organ heralded the intro to "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow," I felt the spirit. It is part of my religious experience. For you digital types, it's part of my database.
• They reminded me very much of the Unitarian Church. which I tried to join when I was 29. I attended their "Firesides" for new members; at the end of the series of meetings, the minister and the assistant minister (who were husband and wife) told me point-blank not to bother to pursue it; it was clear to them that I wouldn't be happy there. I must have asked too many questions about traditional music and liturgy. I can't resist my favorite anecdote about the Unitarian Church in Rockford: I don't know what they do now, but in the 70's they just plain didn't have church at all in the summer, because they thought people should have a vacation from Sunday services. (I guess.) On the first Sunday in September, when church resumed, the first service consisted of a "raise your hand and tell us what you did this summer" activity. The following Sunday, the male minister spent what I thought was going to be a sermon justifying why he had chosen to cut off his ponytail. What were they like before the Unitarians and the Universalists merged? 
• Which leads into the obvious: what was the Congregational Church like before it became the United Church of Christ? My father was raised in that faith and my grandmother attended Plymouth Congregational in Minneapolis until she moved in with my parents in Illinois. It was a very formal, society-type church. She would be spinning in her grave if she knew what the services are like now. 
• A minister wrote an article in Christian Century stating that the UCC believes in "seeing the world through clear windows." Metaphor, right. But, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen a Congregational or UCC church with stained glass windows. I need the stained glass. I want the mysteries. There is a bit of "Through a Glass, Darkly" in me.  The "speculum" notwithstanding (see Wikipedia article below), this ancient passage resonates in me. It probably reflects a Platonic Greek philosophy that this world isn't real; it's just a distorted image of things to come. I prefer to interpret it as a poetic expression of the ambiguity of God and the meaning of life. I decided to go to church because I am aware of my mortality and choose to have faith, and I want a community of people who are on a similar path. Since I can only speculate about what happens after we die, I at least want to do so through numinous colors and eloquent poetry.

• I looked through the United Church of Christ hymnal. They have neutralized the lyrics to many hymns I have sung all my life: e.g. Glorious Things of You are Spoken instead of Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken, Lead On, Eternal Sovereign instead of Lead On, O King Eternal, Faith of the Martyrs instead of Faith of  our Fathers, and Crown With Your Richest Crowns instead of Crown Him with Many Crowns. Marie just asked me to look up Jesus Christ, our Sovereign King and I thought she'd said "Jesus Christ has gone insane." (I don't have my hearing aids in). I don't know that hymn - it must be Catholic. It's not in there. The alterations in the UCC hymnal are very random; I'm flipping through it right now for more examples, and all I'm finding are the good old traditional lyrics. Go figure. (They even have Now Thank We All Our God in German). 
• Another point with regard to hymns: While I get it that they want to ditch gender-based language, kingly references and thees and thous, I just can't sing Be Now My Vision instead of Be Thou My vision. It hurts my ears. But what really hurt my ears is that gender or neuter, I didn't hear nor sing a single hymn I knew last Sunday. Most of the music was contemporary. I felt like I was at Girl Scout camp.
• During the offertory, we were treated to When Johnny Comes Marching Home, presumable because it was the day before the observance of Veterans' Day.
• It was Stewardship Sunday, and the closing "hymn" was Help! I Need Somebody--yup, the Beatles version.

Help! I need a different church. Christ United Methodist Church on Alpine is near our neighborhood as well. My mother goes to the United Methodist Church in Geneva, IL; one of my sisters was married there in 1983; my father was beautifully eulogized there in 1997, the people are absolutely wonderful, the pastor is a great speaker, the organist went to NIU and knows all my old cronies, and they have a Schantz pipe organ.  I've gone to church twice with Mom this fall and I do believe that if I lived in St. Charles or Geneva, I'd join that church in a heartbeat. So why not join the one here in my own city?

This week, I checked it out. I dropped in and took a tour by myself while a meeting was going on. I even took some pictures - and I was able to walk into the sanctuary. Christ United Methodist Church has a pipe organ built by the H.A. Howell Company of Dixon, IL. I have sweat equity in it; I worked with Hugh E. Burdick, the builder, when it was installed in the 70s. (I sat patiently at the console and held keys as he tapped on each pipe, in each rank, to tune the instrument). The Howell organ is still there. It was thrilling to see it and sit on the bench. It was obvious to me that they use it.

I've read a lot about the United Methodist Church. They are more socially progressive than other Protestant churches. In my mother's church, earlier this month, the congregation met to vote on a welcome statement adopted and endorsed by the Church Council. It states:  

We strive to be a Great Commandment church working intentionally to love God and love neighbor. Our faith community is enriched by our differences. We welcome diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, economic condition, marital status, physical or mental ability, faith history or other distinctions which may have previously separated individuals from Christian community. Our welcome knows no boundaries. We seek to live into Christ’s loving embrace of all.

It lost by a very narrow margin - it's my opinion that those who voted against it feel that we are past the point where we need to spell out all the types of people accepted. Someone is going to feel left out. All-inclusive means exactly that, and their current statement reflects it. Christ United Methodist Church hasn't had that statement presented to them, but I'm sure they will. A glance on the Internet shows that many United Methodist churches in northern Illinois have approved it for their individual congregations.

I called the assistant pastor of Christ UMC. He could tell right away how important church music is to me. He was honest; he told me that the organ is never used at the 11 AM contemporary service, and not necessarily for every bit of music at the 8 and 9:30 AM traditional services. But it is played. I've met the organist. I've also met the choir director. Sadly, I doubt I'll join their choir, as they sing at the 8 AM service as well as the 9:30 one. If I have to be somewhere before 8 AM, there's no point in my going to bed the night before. Today I set an alarm for 8:30 so I could practice getting up early. Tomorrow, it will be set for 8:15 and I know what I'm wearing.

The United Methodist Church is often referred to as "the church of the warm heart." The heart of the faith is a ministry of love; they are a church of love and not a church of LAW.  They are big on social justice, and they take a lead in matters of concern, such as fighting racism. They accept thoughtful debate. They do not assign a gender to God; God is "spirit." They have members who differ on their perspectives about LGBTQ people; the point is that all persons have sacred worth. They ask us trust in the good intentions of others; they care about holy living. The church doesn't label itself as either "liberal" or "conservative." At present they do not ordain gay people; this raises my eyebrows. Personally, I don't think a person's sexual preference is anyone else's business, and I wish it didn't have to be forced to become an issue. In any case, no matter what church you join, you aren't going to agree with everything they do. The perfect church doesn't exist.

I love the opportunities to serve at Christ United Methodist Church. They have Stephen ministers. My mother took the 50 hours of training to become one after Dad died, and I want to be one, too. (UCC doesn't have that program). Christ United Methodist Church sings the Doxology. They don't make you join; you can attend without being a member and they'll even visit you in the hospital if you're sick; you just can't vote nor hold office. I'm not even at that point. I haven't even gone to church there yet.

The director of Rockford Urban Ministries belongs to that church. So does a well-known Rockford poet. Our electrician is a member. The guy who own the body shop where I need to take my car, since I scraped the fender against the side of the garage again, goes there.  They say "Thanks Be To God" after the pastor says "This is the Word of the Lord." They use "Trespasses" in the Lord's Prayer.
When I met with the Coordinator of Welcoming Ministries on Thursday, she gifted me with her personal copy of United Methodist Questions-United Methodist Answers. She gave me last Sunday's bulletin. She gave me a copy of the church directory. She let me borrow books from their library. I still wish I could have met with the pastor to talk theology, but I can make another appointment. There are no new membership classes until Spring. And no one said a peep to me about tithing, although I know it is necessary.

They have pews. They have stained glass. The ministers wear vestments. They use the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. They have a bookstore. They have wi-fi. They have, as I mentioned earlier, a pipe organ--and not just any old pipe organ. That in itself makes me feel that I have found tribe.

They believe in the Trinity. That is a non-issue for me except for the fact that I tend to like things that come in threes. They believe in free will, as I do.  They share their faith by acts of compassion, justice, devotion and worship. The book I was given has a passage where the author, F. Belton Joyner, Jr., says,"Remember that Adam is the Hebrew word for human being;  Eve is Hebrew for 'life giver.'  "  He even acknowledges what I have always thought since studying languages: recent research has shown that the word virgin in Isaiah 7:14 is actually a word that means "young woman of marriageable age,"

I hope this works out. I'm willing to try. I wish I recognized more of the people in the church directory. I can't get a spin on the congregation yet. So, the logical first step is to get up and go to the 9:30 AM service tomorrow. I'll be back with a review.