Jan. 23rd, 2011

avanta7: (Marriage)
The scene: Avanta7 ventures into the kitchen to make coffee. She returns to the bedroom where her spouse is still abed.

"Why is there canned fruit sitting on the stove?"
"Because I want to make a fruit cocktail and have it with cottage cheese for breakfast this morning. [pause] And I wanted to see what your reaction would be."
"Oh. Are you satisfied?"
"Quite."
avanta7: (Liberal Jesus)
This morning I went to church. And it didn't fall down.

To the best of my recollection, the last time I attended a church service was last Easter, shortly after we moved to Gadsden. No, I didn't attend any Christmas services, and I did actually feel a little guilt about that at the time, but not enough to motivate me off the couch and into clothing suitable for a church service on a cold and snowy Christmas Eve or Christmas Sunday.

Anyway. I've been reluctant to start attending any church here because of preconceived notions about their close-mindedness and legalism simply due to our location deep in the Bible Belt. (Contempt prior to investigation -- I haz it.) Legalism will drive me out of a church faster than the dreaded "Hand of Friendship" AKA "Passing of the Peace" moment. Of course, the hypocrisy of my own close-mindedness (i.e. those preconceived notions) has not escaped me...

And so. This morning I decided I would start the church-shopping process, and went to the 10:45 service at First United Methodist Church of Gadsden. Beautiful building, gorgeous stained glass -- the aesthetics are important. If I hate the building, I won't go. Decent choir, female associate pastor, male senior pastor. Lots of blue-haired ladies in furs in the congregation, which tells me this is the church the "upscale" Methodists attend. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but an older more affluent congregation tends to be more conservative in its theology and approach to social justice issues, and my own theology/social justice leanings are definitely NOT conservative.

The sermon, therefore, left me pleasantly surprised. The text was from Matthew 4, the calling of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Reverend Thompson's point [vastly simplified and restated here] was Jesus' simplicity in calling these men: "Follow me," He said. And that's it. That's all He asked of us. Reverend Thompson specifically mentioned that Jesus DIDN'T say: "Believe these ten [or 12, or 47] specific things." Jesus doesn't want legalism; he wants us to follow his lead. As in the childhood game, when we follow the leader, we do what the leader does. In other words, to follow Jesus, we should literally ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" And so, it's not about the doctrine, it's not about the "rules", it's about following Christ and being the best Jesus we can be.

Okay. Theology-wise, so far so good. Haven't got a clue of this congregation's position on certain social issues, but I'm willing to go on a second date.

August 2013

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