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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.

So naturally I called my mother, which went better than I expected. We chitchatted for about ten minutes about general stuff: I told her about spouse's recruitment interview and his follow-up interview coming up next week; she talked about taking Grandma out to a family friend's house Friday night to play Mexican Train (a form of dominoes). My grandmother was quite the domino player in her day, and had a good time, although they had a good laugh at themselves on the way home at 9:30 that night. Grandma said, "Look at me. I'm 96 years old. What am I doing out this late?"

Church this morning consisted of arriving much too early for choir practice, but being welcomed into the band rehearsal with open arms. The sermon was tangentially connected to the opening of The Da Vinci Code this Friday: a sermon entitled "The Christ Code." I can't tell you how much I appreciate the open-mindedness of this congregation. Not only did our minister have nothing bad to say about the novel or the movie, she said she and her husband have a babysitter for Friday night so they won't miss opening night. (She did make the point I always make when discussing this book -- it's fiction, folks: a rollicking good yarn but nothing more.)

This afternoon spouse and I washed our cars and cleaned the garage floor. Now, the washing machine churns away; a steak thaws on the counter, its destiny the grill; and the final episode of The West Wing airs in less than two hours.

It's been a lovely day.

I think I found it, I think I found it!

After reading ottawabill's thoughts on going to a Sacramento church and treating the drive as a time of meditation and spiritual renewal, I got on line and looked around at UMC congregations there. And I believe I found what I've been looking for. I just didn't know it had a name.

The church is St. Mark's UMC and it is a reconciling congregation.

I found the following statement in the February 15 church newsletter:
~~~~~
( Reconciliation Statement )
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This is what I've been looking for! Although my previous church home, Quapaw Quarter UMC, is not an official reconciling congregation, it practiced these same principles.

Now. If only the place lives up to my expectations. Heck, if it even meets them halfway! I'm planning on attending Sunday morning to check things out.

(One question. I know what LGBT in "LGBTI" stands for, but the I? Anyone care to enlighten me?)

Today was my final Sunday at my church. The pastor called me up in front of the congregation to give me a blessing. It's a sweet little ceremony, perhaps unique to this particular congregation. I've never seen it done at any other Methodist church. I cried. Of course.

Then I sang the offertory, one of my favorite old-timey hymns, "How Great Thou Art." Perhaps I should say, I almost sang it. I made it through the first two verses all right, but I broke down on the third chorus. And then, and then, the congregation picked it up and sang the rest for me. And gave me a standing ovation afterward.

Hot Springs, a town roughly the size of Yuba City -- in fact, it's somewhat smaller -- has 14 Methodist churches. Yuba City has two. Well, three, but one's Korean. I don't speak Korean.

Finding a new church may be a challenge.

Tomorrow (Thursday 9/23) at 8 a.m. on CSPAN, Rev. Betsy Singleton will give the opening prayer for the House Session in Washington, D.C.

Rev. Betsy is the pastor of my church, Quapaw Quarter United Methodist, and the wife of Vic Snyder, Democratic Representative from Little Rock AR.

Woo hoo!