Houses of Worship

[Satya]

Or "Congregations of Like-Minded Believers." Whatever you want to call it.

If you attend a "church" of some kind, what kind of church is it? What are the services like? What's the atmosphere like? The people? Finally, why do you find yourself attending services?

[locke]

I stopped because I got sick of the petty power politics (within the congregation) that went on at church. Nepotism and disagreement-cleansing are pretty nasty up close, and when your parents are church leaders you get awful close to it.

[Rei]

There are two churches I'm apt to go to right now, depending on which better fits my schedule on a given Sunday. One of them is fairly evangelical while still keeping to orthodox Catholicism (the local Newman Centre). The other has Latin Mass once a day (which I sadly often cannot go to) and is all around very traditional. I find there is a lot more community at the former and I generally prefer going there, but both are very good at emphasising beauty in the Mass and can teach very well in the homily (although I've heard less than good homilies as well, more often at the latter).

[starlooker]

Lutheran. The church I go to, when I go (not as frequently as I would like to), has a spoken liturgy and a service that includes music (chanting, hymns, etc.) I go to the one with the singing. I like that.

I very much like attending a liturgical church. My preference is that church services should be structured so that you could get something meaningful out of it even without the sermon. I went to more charismatic churches when I was a lot younger. Their argument against an order of worship was that it kept them "from putting God in a box." Which is all well and good, except that A) structurally, it went pretty much the same every single time, even though people pretended it was new. Basically, they just had the order of service in their heads instead of their bulletins. and B) putting the focus on one person talking for nearly the entirety of the service just seemed fundamentally wrong to me. The older I get, the more strongly I feel this way.

The most interesting (again, structurally -- not content wise!) church service I ever went to was with a roommate, who is/was a Quaker. I liked that, too, even though it was basically the opposite of a liturgy. Basically, everyone sat quietly in a very plain room for an hour, and if someone was moved to speak, they did, and if not, we sat. One person felt moved to speak on the meaning of the word "friend," and a couple of other people said something for a minute or two. Mostly, we sat. This drove me crazy for a while, but after listening to the cars rushing by outside, I really liked it. I liked how it made you really feel you were deliberately setting this time aside.

[Satya]

I'm kind of looking for a church right now. It's hard to do, because my beliefs are so individual and personal; I was raised in a very strict, evangelical Baptist tradition. Church school Monday through Friday, church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday, VBS, daily devotionals, weekly Bible study, and winter and summer Bible camps. Just as an example, at winter Bible camp at the Christian college, the girls would have to wear knee-length skirts (which would be checked by having them kneel, and the skirt would have to reach the floor) - which doesn't sound weird, until you add the fact that they had to wear such skirts over their snowpants when we went sledding or tubing or whatever. I mean, seriously - how unmodest can you be in a parka and snowpants?

Anyways, that's what I was raised in, and obviously I don't want to go back to it. The only other kind of church I've ever been to was a Hmong Baptist church, which was interesting, but of course I don't speak Hmong, lol. And I don't really have any religious friends who go to any other kind of church, either.

[Azarel]

I'm kind of looking for a church right now. It's hard to do, because my beliefs are so individual and personal; I was raised in a very strict, evangelical Baptist tradition. Church school Monday through Friday, church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday, VBS, daily devotionals, weekly Bible study, and winter and summer Bible camps. Just as an example, at winter Bible camp at the Christian college, the girls would have to wear knee-length skirts (which would be checked by having them kneel, and the skirt would have to reach the floor) - which doesn't sound weird, until you add the fact that they had to wear such skirts over their snowpants when we went sledding or tubing or whatever. I mean, seriously - how unmodest can you be in a parka and snowpants?

Anyways, that's what I was raised in, and obviously I don't want to go back to it. The only other kind of church I've ever been to was a Hmong Baptist church, which was interesting, but of course I don't speak Hmong, lol. And I don't really have any religious friends who go to any other kind of church, either.

Is there a Pentecostal within reach? To go to once a month perhaps, if you've had a really strict background, it might help not to jump into anywhere full on for a while.

I've had problems with congregations before, but you have to remember their flaws are as many as your flaws but you don't always recognise your own flaws even if someone points them out to you.

The other thing to remember is that Christianity is between you and Christ/God ultimately, and church is a good way to nurture that connection if you have someone teaching you things that are inline with what Christ/God said.

I was raised a Baptist, but I'm marrying a (charismatic) Catholic and we go to both Baptist and Catholic services as much as we can though that has been hard as we've not been living together during our engagement.

[Satya]

All true..

I guess I'm just waiting to be "moved" in the right direction.. some kinda hint or divine nudge as to what I should do.. Which usually means you're not really trying hard enough/praying about it, really giving it to God. What a shocker, right? But... I definitely need it. The community, the guidance, etc.