31 :: Mercy Church

This morning I worshiped at Mercy Church in South Charlotte. Excellent experience for my thirty-first church. And with Thanksgiving behind us, the tide of Christmas has started to kick in in meaningful ways - including with the music. For that I am grateful.

I have been driving past this church for years and noticed recently that it appeared to have some level of activity. I did some research and found that it was indeed open. 9 am (which I attended) in person and inside, 10 am online and 11 am in person and outside. A great deal of activity available.

It occurred to me that the church had been there for a long time but perhaps under a different name... then I remembered that it was Candlewyck Baptist Church in the past. Unclear what had happened to Candlewyck, I entered the church and really enjoyed what I saw. A modern setting with assembled chairs and a stage. A bulletin with the lyrics that I could follow along in. A mixed crowd of varied ages and demographic segments. Stained glass windows that evoked an earlier time. An advent calendar with a GRIP acronym. And a really good band. 

Essentially, everything you would want from a modern church at Christmas time.

We sang some Christmas songs and some praise music fare. Really nice to sing Christmas music. It's hard to believe that this year, which has gone so very slowly, is almost over! Last Christmas seems like a lifetime ago.

Praise music.

After the band played, the singer from the band read some scripture:

Then we had the pleasure of hearing a sermon from Rashard Barnes [more about him here], he is a young guy who is starting the Independence branch of Mercy Church. Yes, this is a growing place.

Some pics from the sermon:

The content of the sermon was around when Mary, pregnant with Yeshua, met her cousin Elizabeth and they greeted each other. Inside of Elizabeth was John the Baptist (yes, John and Yeshua were related, but then again... all Jews are). At the greeting of Mary and Elizabeth, an amazing thing happened - John leapt for joy inside of Elizabeth.

It goes like this - At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

That is from Luke 1:39-45.

The sermon reflected on many things. Of note, Elizabeth called the impending Yeshua "my Lord." Not the Lord, or our Lord - both of which would have been accurate and fine - but my Lord. She grasped the personal nature of the One who was coming, And, as we know, her son John carried that message forward into ancient Israel. 

As an adult, John, in turn, moved into a place of prophetic awaiting. He lived in the wilderness, wearing a loincloth of camel skin and eating mostly bugs. As one who baptized people, he had started a movement. But when Yeshua arrived on the scene, there was some confusion on who the Israelites were to follow. John or Yeshua? 

At a key juncture, John uttered the words of my favorite verse, John 3:30 - "He must increase, I must decrease." I like those words so much that they are scrawled on the dashboard of my car.

He was telling people to ignore him and follow Yeshua Ha'Mashiach - Jesus the Messiah.

And in this story, the in-utero John leapt for joy in his mother's womb! I read that years ago and it stuck with me in a very deep way. I love that image and it means a great deal. I think we are all in some state of awaiting our final birth and the best we can do some days is leap for joy as we await our final state of rebirth.

After the sermon, three people were baptized. This is an emotional thing for me to witness. It is especially so as I reflect on news I received today on the death of one of my closest childhood friends.

Life begins and life ends. Death is the great equalizer. But where new life begins in a proclamation of faith in Yeshua, death loses its sting and its hold on us. And for that we can be grateful now and forever more.

A video of someone being baptized - I loved how the crowd reacted each time!:

The doxology-equivalent (the modern churches don't do the kind of doxology that I am accustomed to) was a Christmas song. Here is that:

As I left, I dropped by the table for visitors and struck up conversation with the young women who were there. As I had come to suspect due to the baptisms, this is a Southern Baptist church. But the kind that has thrown off its trappings that come with that denominational alignment and gone forward in a new way. One that is youthful, integrated, modern, comfortable and open.

And that will make all of the difference in the world. Both the current and hurting world, as well as the world to come.

I thank Mercy Church for their warmth and hospitality. Simply an awesome place.

30 :: Hickory Grove Baptist Church

Today I worshiped at Hickory Grove Baptist Church. I had a great time. I attended early, going to the eight o'clock service. It was reasonably well-attended, and the music and preaching were absolutely great. One thing to note about the place was the immensity of the buildings and the property itself.

Here is an aerial picture:

As you can see, it is a very large place. The interior and exterior are hard to get your head around. Here are some pictures of both the outside and inside - of note, there is a school on the property, as well as a consignment clothing store:

The music was a nice mix of contemporary sounding tunes mixed in with the right amount of traditional Southern gospel music. Here's a bit of that:

After the choir cranked out this great music, the sermon was given by Senior Pastor Clint Pressley, seen here on the staff page of the church's website. As you can also see, the church has a large number of people on staff. A sign of a healthy church, no question about it.

Pastor Pressley was finishing a series on the Book of Romans, which has taken a full two years, from what he said! I felt honored to be at the completion of a cycle that took that long.

Of note is that his speaking style is among the best I have ever heard. He has a solid, baritone voice, speaks with clear diction, as well as has the type of formal Southern accent akin to how Billy Graham spoke in front of a crowd. It was really a pleasure to listen to Clint Pressley give a sermon.

A video and some pictures of Pastor Pressley:

From the sermon, I took notes in my Bible app, something I am doing with more diligence. It helps me to focus. The main ideas of the sermon:

• Praise God for loyal Christian friends. 
  
  
• Praise God for broken barriers. 
  
  
• Praise God because He is able. 
  
  
• Praise God because He is able to strengthen us. 
  
  
• Praise God for the Bible. 
  
  
• Praise God for the missionary spirit (Great Commission).
  
  
• Praise God for His grace. 

Nothing about the sermon was particularly challenging and I enjoyed its simplicity a great deal. There are just some weeks that a good, straight forward message is what I need. This was one of those Sundays when I benefitted from a message that reinforces good ideas without making me stretch mentally.

One thing I did take note of is that this church seems to be in a transitional phase. Evidence of this transition was everywhere. As an example, the Pastor was in a three-piece suit and the church had the ubiquitous purple accent lights in the front of the sanctuary. I have seen Pastors in three-piece suits, and I have seen a huge amount of those purple accent lights... but never in the same place. 

That contrast gave me pause and set me to thinking about the way in which the older, mainline denominations are being replaced by younger, more nimble churches that are both contemporary in format and non-denominational.

There are major changes within the Christian church in the US. 

Some mainline denominations have increasingly embraced a message of social justice as their central platform. That message is an essential part of revealed Truth.... and it is perhaps also reductionist. As a result, some mainline denominations are speaking a lexicon much more familiar to people who don't go to church as often, or at all. The United Methodist Church, some branches of Presbyterianism and the Episcopal Church are in a numerical decline. Within fifty years, it's very likely that the aforementioned liberal denominations will be almost entirely moribund.

And while Southern Baptists could arguably be called a mainline denomination, they are neither liberal nor in numerical decline. They will be around for a long while. And I am seeing more evidence that they are preparing for the future by slowly cutting over to the new format - more akin to the style and music of a Freedom House. 

Also, more Southern Baptist churches are de-emphasizing their affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, at least explicitly. Of note is that when Beth and I visited Biltmore Church in Asheville [link], I only learned that it was a Southern Baptist church by reading about it online after the service. While there, there was no sign it was Southern Baptist. Even the name doesn't mention the denominational affiliation.

A mere twenty years ago, virtually all Southern Baptist churches had everyone wearing coat and tie or dresses while singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" to organ music. Now, more of them are moving to relaxed dress, contemporary music and those ubiquitous purple accent lighting. All the while, they are maintaining their more conservative theology. And because of this, the numerical stability of this denomination is still relatively healthy.

On the question of demographics, I did take note of the fact that the congregation was a bit older. I feel that this was tied to the fact it was the 8 am service. That is more normative at earlier services. On an additional demographic note, there were a significant number of black attendees. This in a denomination not known for its history of racial integration. That was a happy thing to see, for sure.

At the end of the service, they sang the doxology. It was very well done, here's the video:

I enjoyed Hickory Grove Baptist Church a great deal. May its transition into its next phase of evolution continue unabated. 

I thank them for their hospitality.

29:: Saint Peter Catholic Church

Today I attended Mass at Saint Peter Catholic Church in uptown Charlotte. This church is in the middle of the city, so it's about a five-minute walk from where I live. Additionally, it is a Jesuit Church, meaning the Priests of this church are part of the Jesuit Order, which is formally named The Society of Jesus. This Order was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. 

This church has one Mass on Saturday night, three Sunday morning and one Sunday evening. I attended the 9 am Mass. It was so full that I was told to join the overflow crowd in the basement of the church. This overflow situation was not due to the main sanctuary being completely full - it was because it was limited to 200 people.

Because I was ushered into the basement, I had to go to the main sanctuary after Mass ended. I took many pictures after the church had cleared out, which explains why I have pictures of an empty church. 

Here are those pictures, which include some of the outside, as well as a statue of Loyola, a columbarium and the church's manse:

The Mass is a service that I have become a bit accustomed to by now. This is my fourth Catholic Mass and I have a general sense of what to do - when to stand, when to make the sign of the cross, when to say "And unto you..." and when to pretend that I am saying things that Catholics say. I respect that I am forbidden from the communion elements that are served at Mass, so that is a missing piece for me.

Today, I paid closer attention to the music at this Mass. It is like all of the other music that I have heard in similar Mass services - beautiful song sung by a soprano, liturgical words and a vague sense that the music is without era. It could have been sung five hundred years ago or today. 

Have a listen...

I have nothing good or bad to say about taking Mass in a basement of a Catholic Church. It was unique and this journey is one in which I am inherently open to the unexpected.

Here are some pictures from the basement:

The homily (what non-Catholics might call a sermon) was the part that provoked thought in me. The Priest said a few things in a very clear order:

1) Our individual gifts are from God
2) We are obligated to use our gifts to help others and repair a broken world
3) In the use of gifts, the "we" is to be seen as greater than the "I"

This third point was mentioned as something that Pope Francis recently reiterated in a Papal Encyclical, the idea of putting "tribe above self" is a valid interpretation of the Gospel.

It caught my attention. My initial instinct was to believe that this is a problematic statement. My political philosophy is that the locus of power must rest with the individual and move to the "we" only when there is a compelling case made for that change. But my theological construct around "we" above "I" is pretty immature. And I had the good sense not to insert my political philosophy into my theology.

I backed away and contemplated this idea of "we above "I". For hours. I also had a conversation with my wise and insightful girlfriend during which she raised some excellent insights. And then, as is best done with any theological reckoning, I took the question to the Cross.

First, it makes perfect sense that this would be a Catholic teaching. Conversely, it makes perfect sense that I might have had a slight recoil from the same idea. Catholicism is very much grounded in having their members think as part of a "we." The very word Catholic includes the definition "Including or concerning all humankind; universal." This is "we" to the very core of what it means to be Catholic.

I, a man raised as a Protestant, have been more exposed to a religious milieu in which there is some emphasis put on your personal story of faith. We say things that sound more like this... 

"When I knew I needed the Lord..." 

"On the day that I got saved..." 

"My journey to the foot of the Cross started when..."

In addition to the specific reasons why the Priest's homily and I didn't match up, there are more layers to it.

In reality, the term "we" arises from an aggregate of the "I" state. The two words only mean something when taken into account against the other. So, there is a linguistic dimension that made me see that these words are inextricably bound in each other.

Finally, how can we approach this question by bringing it to the Cross? It's always the right place to go. Once I did that, the question became much clearer.

The Cross itself is the ultimate example of "we" above "I" for this world. The logos, the "I" that was present at the inception of the universe (John 1:1-3), handed Himself over to the Romans and the Jewish religious leaders to face certain death (plot twist later, but you already know that). 

That death was the divine expression of the "I" subverted to the "we" of the addled world that we live in.

I own my "I" and am entrusted with overseeing only that. It has proven to be a sufficient challenge! I do not want to control, change, manage or influence other people. Give guidance? Sure. Use my talents and resources to help others? Yes.

I concede that in a theological pondering, "we" can absolutely go above the "I" in many or most cases. Politically, I am more skeptical of this same idea.

With all of that said, what would this sense of collective obligation to each other mean in the current environment? 

I think it would mean many things, and we are perhaps falling short in most of them. 

A great example of where our obligation to our neighbors isn't being fulfilled in in the burgeoning homeless problem in Charlotte. Yesterday, Beth and I were driving around and I got a glimpse of the scale of the problem by seeing the tent city that has spun up on the edge of uptown. 

I had no idea how serious the problem is. To learn more - click this link. 

To have talents that enable you to produce some abundance is a gift. A gift from God. And if it is theologically sound that "we " can go above "I" in many cases, then we can reasonably feel that we are falling short in our Christian obligations. That this level of poverty is proliferating in the shadows of a skyline with so many busy cranes and shining (currently empty) office towers is an indictment of how we are as Charlotteans, North Carolinians and Americans. 

And I personally don't know what to do about it. In addition to the structural questions we can ask about a society that often prizes profits above people, we can ask individual questions around what we value and where our treasure is. I can be counted as one of those who isn't quick to have an answer on what to do.

Most importantly, the image of God - what Catholic teaching calls Imago Dei - is within each and every individual that lives in that tent camp that is now numbered at one hundred and fifty. Which is all the more reason that we are falling short in our obligations to one another.

So much to think about and so much to do.

I enjoyed my time at Saint Peter Catholic Church this morning. It changed my thinking on an important question and for that I am grateful.

Amen.