It is immoral and improper to critically review a church service. So of course I will do so. I am using the ol' Ship of Fools system:
Mystery Worshipper: Thelma Dawn Esprit.
The church: Just to make it a bit harder to Google this review, we'll call it FEELC; the full name is a couple entries below.
Denomination: Lutheran, ELCA.
The building: Very attractive in a olde gothic style. (Please realize that I have very little idea what "gothic" means, but that's the word that comes to mind when I see the church.) The church: Mostly early Gen-X/late Baby Boomers with their adolescent children. A few elderly parishioners. No one Kim's and my age that I can recall. Almost all men in suit coats.
The neighborhood: Along the path of my Monument Avenue 10K in the historical, upper-middle class Fan District in Richmond. Specifically, across the street from the J.E.B. Stuart Monument (and, in fact, the church can be seen in the background here).
The cast: The service was led by Rev. Dr. J. Schweitzer, with L. Ellis on piano and directing the choir.
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What was the name of the service? 10:30 a.m. Communion Service.
How full was the building? There were a bit over 100 in the congregation, including 10 in the choir. The church could probably hold 400, so the service felt rather empty.
Did anyone welcome you personally? Kim and I received a "hi" from the gentleman who gave us our program.
Was your pew comfortable? It was wooden with no padding, but it was relatively comfortable. Kneeling was a problem, however; the pews leaned back about probably a 10-degree angle, and the kneelers were so close to the pews directly in front that I myself had to lean back at about a 10-degree angle during the requisite minute of kneeling.
How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere? The pastor and music director both made general church announcements; the congregation seemed relatively attentive.
What were the exact opening words of the service? "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen."
What books did the congregation use during the service? A general Lutheran hymnal, bundled with an expansion pack of hymns.
What musical instruments were played? Piano, exclusively. (The organ is being repaired.)
Did anything distract you? The aforementioned kneelers; trying to figure out exactly how the communion-on-the-communion-rail was taking place (did the 10 people on the rail all eat the bread together? what was I supposed to do with my communion cup?).
Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what? A nice balance, actually; the service was serious without being solumn.
Exactly how long was the sermon? 13 minutes.
On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher? 6. The sermon was certainly acceptable, although I didn't particularly agree with his point of view; even if I did, I think there were more interesting ideas he could have spoken about on the same subject. He struck a good balance on theatricalness, never hitting Nathan Lane nor Ben Stein.
In a nutshell, what was the sermon about? He argued that Thomas really wasn't so bad after all for doubting Jesus, which is an interesting premise; the trouble is, (a) he never made explicit the parallels between Thomas' doubting and our own (he presented it like a case study sans conclusions), and worse, (b) he argued that since Thomas didn't actually need to put his hand in Jesus' side and put his fingers through Jesus' hands, Thomas wasn't a complete doubter and thus is somewhat unfairly maligned by the cliché that bears his name.
Which part of the service was like being in heaven? The church itself, which was majestic without being gaudy.
And which part was like being in... er... the other place? The kneelers and the crying children (one of who was baptized that Sunday).
What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost? Right after the postlude started, a woman sitting in the row in front of us asked if we were visitors, where we were from, were we Lutheran, would we like to attend the after-service coffee, etcetera. Friendly enough, but I am not fond of those conversations myself.
How would you describe the after-service coffee? Kim and I skipped it.
How would you feel about making this your regular church (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)? 7; there were no major problems, and I have the feeling that I'd like other sermons by the same pastor more.
Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian? Yes.
What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time? Starting next week, they will be integrating harpsichord music into their services, which is très awesome.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
