Christian

“According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to be 2.9 billion.” -Wikipedia

A few days ago I watched Hillcrest Christian Church’s Facebook live church service.

I will be honest, I really thought that I had an idea what this service would be like, what the church auditorium would look like, what the pastors and band would look and sound like, but I have to say, I was wrong.

Now it would stand to reason that I should expect the unexpected by now. That I would have learned by now to not walk into a service (or rather click on a service) and think I know what it’s going to be like. As usual, I ended the service thinking, “very different than what I had expected.”

As stated before in past posts, I am a Christian. I was raised in a traditional Mennonite Church. For twenty plus years my idea of a “Christian church” was how I was raised. I knew no different. Boy was my mind blown upon becoming very involved in two non denominational churches in my mid to late twenties. I bet you can see this coming but my new mental picture of the “Christian church” changed into a new picture.

The first non denominational church I found was mind blowing. Lights, camera, action…Wow! I felt like I was at a concert and Jesus was who everyone was raising their hands to and jumping up and down for. I fell in love with this church, the people, the messages, the staff, the atmosphere, just everything. Upon entering this particular church I was in a place of contemplation and searching. This church family seemed right for so many reasons.

So then this church became the idea of what Christianity looked like to me. I signed up for multiple committees, many volunteer opportunities and even mission trips. They all enhanced my life and I also met some amazing people this way. I was passionate, I was all in!

I eventually moved towns and decided that I needed a new place to worship so enters the second non-denominational church. Same as the last church, I would consider this community a fun and loving group of good Christian people. The church was huge actually (not quite mega church big, but big) and I fell right in. I didn’t jump into things so abruptly like I had the other church but I eventually volunteered a little bit. The church’s teachings and beliefs were very similar to the other church so my idea of “the Christian church” stayed the same.

I tell you all of this because my time with Hillcrest Christian Church was nothing like the past two churches I was involved with. Actually, it was a bit more like the traditional church that I grew up in and that really caught me off guard. Now I know I said that the churches I chose were technically non denominational, but I still considered them the quote on quote “Christian church”.

Upon looking at Hillcrest Christian’s website, I gathered that this church was going to be like the last two church’s I attended. I thought they would lean more towards modern and less towards traditional. Well, I was wrong, again. And I laugh about it all because when it comes to this project, I love being wrong! I am actually enjoying that I have to replace past ideas and judgments with actual experiences. I’ve never been more happy to be wrong about something! (This coming from a Type A personality.)

It wasn’t but moments after clicking on Hillcrest Chrisitan Church’s Facebook live video that I came to the conclusion that this service was going to be allot more traditional than I thought. The camera pointed to the stage, a small stage compared to the Methodist’s service I had just finished watching minutes earlier. I was getting a little bit of everything this morning. I almost threw in a Jewish Orthodox service as well that day but after the two services, I thought it would be best to leave well enough alone. My mind was on overload, in a good way of course!

The service started as many others, with an introduction and a time for prayer. Then it was back to the hymnal with, Great is Thy Faithfulness. There was a woman who stood at the pulpit and lead the song. She was a petite blond with short hair. She lead the song in true soprano form.

I thought it was really cool to see a traditional church on my screen and yet see the Facebook emojis going up on the screen. There were thumbs up and hearts. It was nice to see the support the singers and speakers were getting from people sitting in the comfort of their own homes.

As the service continued, the numbers of people watching live kept increasing. Maybe there were a few sleepy heads in the bunch. When I first signed in at the very beginning there was about eight of us watching. Wow, I thought, I am never this early to a service! As the service continued I think there was around 55 people signed in and enjoying Hillcrest Christian’s service.

Pastor Neil Engle eventually made his way to the microphone. He started out by letting everyone know that if anyone needed anything during this coronavirus scare, that they could message or call him on his personal cell at any time. Right away, I was feeling the love from Pastor Neil Engle, he really seemed to care about his congregation.

The whole sermon was based around John 9 which entails Jesus healing a blind man by spitting in dirt and rubbing the then mud on the blind man’s eyes. I imagine anyone who isn’t religious or who hasn’t familiarized themselves with the Bible, that this story would seem pretty weird. Rubbing mud on a blind man’s eyes so that he could be healed and see the world for the first time. O no, wait, not just mud but mud that someone made from their own spit! And yet this is not the weirdest or grossest story in the Bible. not even close.

Instead of jumping right into a sermon, they played a ten to fifteen minute clip from the movie called, Gospel of John. The movie clip showed the healing of the blind man. They showed this clip from a projector on their back wall and then zoomed the camera as close as they could to the screen so all of us at home could see as best as we could.

After the movie clip there was another prayer time. This time it was specified for the coronavirus and everyone that it is effecting right now. Yes and Amen, we could all use more prayer in our lives right now.

There was another solo from the blond soprano and then another woman came up on stage to ask for offering. Well, kind of offering. I think it was geared towards the children but I’m sure if the adult congregation was sitting in those seats, they would have given too. The woman held up a big pink piggy bank. It was the cutest of all things, really it was! The best part though was that his name was Porky. Mr. Porky was looking for quarters and boy did he look hungry. Too bad there was only like three people in that sanctuary… But online giving was a later option so to all those sending in their offerings this week, Mr. Porky thanks you! O and while the pig was being passed around to the three people leading the service, the woman who originally brought up Mr. Porky sang the song, Jesus Loves the Little Children. Now, that is a classic that I have engraved in my childhood memories.

The sermon tied back to the book of John by reminding us that we all have blind spots. Pastor Engle used the example of driving, we all have blind spots while driving our vehicles. As a driver, we know to watch for other vehicles in our blind spots because we are very aware that we have them. But unlike driving we can have blind spots in our lives and yet not realize that they are even there. Example one, in our personal relationships. Example two, your relationship with Jesus. If we know we have blind spots then we can be more aware of checking them!

After the sermon there was communion. Everyone at home was encouraged to find something at home to eat and drink so that they could join in on this moment of remembrance.

I did not partake in communion at home and to be honest, I’m not sure when the last time I did partake in communion was… It’s clearly been a while. I also have a little PTCS (post traumatic church syndrome) of this particular religious act. Every time they announce that it’s communion time, in any church I’ve been to, I automatically start thinking of when I last repented of my sins was. And then, since that’s usually been a while, I start trying to think of all my sins since then… this is always a long list and two thirds of which I am sure to not remember. I do this act automatically because my childhood pastor always emphasized how big of a deal communion was. Which, of course it is!

I remember him reading passages from the bible telling us that if we took of communion and didn’t repent from all of our sins, every last one, that we could become sick and start sleeping allot. It always terrified me and I drank the red grape juice and eat the small chunk of bread with sweaty palms. I didn’t usually feel comfortable just passing the plates because if I did then it was a clear sign to everyone that I had some deep dark sin that I was still wrestling with. I didn’t want to be that person… who wanted to be that person?

Anyways, I am not really sure how I see communion these days or how I should see it. And it’s never something I really think about until I am sitting there in a service, or watching a service, and someone announces that surprise, it’s communion Sunday! O great …. just my luck, here goes my long list of sins I need to be forgiven of. Maybe someday I can partake in communion without hesitation, without wanting to exit the service before the grape juice is passed, but for now those are the memories I still hold to.

Now although this church did bring back some past life hesitations, it also reminded me of what it means to be apart of such a close knit community. Now I could be wrong but if the live attendance was any conclusion to the regular attendance then this church was on the smaller side. It was a place where everyone knows everyone’s name. I grew up in such a place. A place where if anyone was in the hospital or had a loss in the family then you ought to expect the Richards to make you food for the next month, expect the Shrocks to take care of your kids during the day, expect the Reynolds to mow your grass for the next few weekends, and expect the Dewleys to clean your house once a week and do your laundry (those Dewleys are great people!).

Being in this kind of close knit community means that these people you worship with on Sundays aren’t just people you see once a week for an hour or two, they are family. They are people who are invested in your lives just as much as you are invested in theirs. And that is a true blessing right there.

My roommate and I have been talking allot about how the coronavirus has been effecting other people. We, and I mean more so her, are concerned about how this illness is effecting everyone right now. (I’m concerned but she’s truly a step above most and is deeply concerned about the world right now. She freaking cares!) It’s so easy to find yourself in a pit of despair if you think too long and hard about all the people who are loosing their jobs right now or who is sick. Today, hearing Hillcrest Christian’s service, I was reminded that there are lots and lots of people who call churches and other close knit communities their homes. Who are being taken care of by these groups during this epidemic. Not only was it emphasized to reach out for help within the church but it was also just as strongly pointed out that during this time we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around us.

It was so encouraging to be apart of Hillcrest Christian Church this morning and I wish their congregation many blessings!

“We don’t have to do it all alone. We were never meant to.” -Brene Brown