Westwood: A comfortable old sweater

Today I went to Westwood Church. It felt like an old sweater that you find in storage after several years. You thought that all the sights and smells were forgotten until you put it on and then the familiarity fills your senses. I have a long personal history with this congregation, my family and I went to this church for over 10 years. The pastor has changed, many of the faces are new, however the format for the service is surprising familiar.I must fess up, I missed most of the first part of the service because I was talking with the main organizer of the MCC fall fair. We were talking about funeral and death rituals (one of my passions)

Seating positioning is always a political issue in church. If you want to see someone squirm just sit in their traditional spot and watch their body language. Most won't say anything directly but you can cut the uncomfortableness with a knife.  One of the things I would like to do is sit near the front of the building. This gives me a good view of the pastor and makes it look like I am a keener. I chose the right side of the room (At Westwood. this is the location filled with young people.) I have always thought this as a very positive tradition. The church where I grew up the kids always sat in the back row (modeling what occurs in most schools) If you sit in the front you would be called goody two shoes and the people in the back would be the shit disturbers.That or the parents with young children who need to sneak out when their kids express themselves naturally.

Speaking about "shit disturbers" that was the phrase that came to mind when the pastor was asking the audience to shout out their impressions of who JC was. You see we tend to forget the fact that Christ was a shit disturber. The good Church goers of the day were the Pharisees and they thought they had God figured out. When JC came he rocked their world by re-defining things. 

One of my favorite people in this church is an elder who swears now and again. He used to get in trouble from his wife when he swore in his adult Sunday school classes that he taught. Maybe there is hope for honest dialogue within this congregation after all. As long as you are not a women wanting to be an elder ... but I digress. I have to keep reminding myself to keep things positive or at least non-divisive.

The music was contemporary with a full band and a worship team. The music was matched to create the right atmosphere. Like a classic bell shaped curved it started slow, quickened with a short time frame and then became more meditative and somber as the music concluded, just prior to the sermon.

The sermon was well scripted and ended at its prescribed time. A quick song at the end, shake a few hands and then jump in your car so you can get dibs on the good spots at a local restaurant. That is unless you follow the ancient tradition of eating Faspa (a Mennonite meal of buns and cheese so that woman wouldn't have to work on the Sabbath)

Why so many Churches?

When one reads about the early Church there is only references to one Church is each community. I know from speaking with many unchurched one of the issues they bring up is why so many churches? Then the following question is which one should I chose. If the body of Christ is about unity and cohesiveness why can't we all get along. This blog is the journey of one persons experience as they explore the Church at Prince George.

Who I am

I am the son/grandson of a Mennonite farmer. I grew up in southern Manitoba in an ultra conservative community. My parents were significantly influenced by the charismatic community and I had spiritual experiences from all perspectives growing up.

About 8 years ago I left a large congregation and identified myself as a post-congregationalist. Although there were significant issues that I no longer identified within the current Church body I had attended I did not want to criticize that Church. So when people asked me why I no longer attended I suggested that it was a fit issue, I no longer felt connected to "the Church". I did however still identify myself as a Christian, and I identified myself in reference to JC (for those unchurched reading the blog I am referring to Jesus Christ) I believe that JC was a real person who lived on earth and interacted with real people.

At the beginning of my journey I stopped reading my Bible, but I was still quick to suggest my favorite part of scriptures was the Psalms (where real people had strong interactions with God) and the gospels. About this time I read a book called a New kind of Christian by Brian McLaren. One of the most profound quotes in this book is that Christian's don't own God. Another influential book that impacted me during this time was "Further along the road less travelled" by M. Scott Peck. In it he describes the 4 stages of Spirituality. I may go into this idea in more depth during my blog but for now that is a good introduction.