New Church

Rex and I LOVE our church here in East Lansing (URC - University Reformed Church), but we knew that our normal pastor was not going to be speaking today. We decided to take this opportunity to visit another church because we have a few friends who go to other churches in the community, and we wanted to get a taste of what they do on Sunday mornings. I forgot how much fun it can be to visit different churches...and how many fun blogs that activity lends itself to.

A very popular church around here is called Riverview, and we decided to try that one. This church has two locations: one on campus and one while away in Holt. We decided to go to the campus service since we already know where that is.

Let me preface my description of this service by letting you know that Rex is VERY conservative and traditional in what he likes in a church service. Riverview, um, isn't. I don't really care either way, but Rex's reactions to everything in this service were pretty awesome.

First of all, we walked in and saw my friend Cidney talking to some people. She ran up and gave us huge hugs, which was fun. She also told us that she has changed her name to Alexandra now, which is weird. I don't think she was lying, though, because everyone at church was calling her "Alex" or "Alexandra." I can't do it. Her name is Cidney. That was too odd.

So Rex, "Alex," and I went to go sit down in the church service. The service was being held in a lecture hall, so we all sat in seats with desks and the ushers gave us pens and note paper so we could take notes on the sermon. Whoa. As we waited for the service to start, the band (which was AWESOME - guitars, drums, piano, violin, cello, and some I am probably forgetting) played songs by Coldplay and other contemporary secular artists. I'm not sure what that had to do with church, but it sounded pretty cool.

Once the service officially started, the "worship leader" (AKA lead singer in the band) invited us to stand for worship. Now, usually to me this means standing reverently by your chair and singing. At Riverview Campus Church, this means that everyone gets out of their seats, runs to the front, and crowds around the stage, sort of like a "Jesus Mosh Pit." Rex and I must have looked a little bewildered, because Cidney said, "Come on! We have to get a spot up front, or you will never be able to see the words!!" Then she grabbed my arm and literally pulled me through the crowd to the front of the mosh pit. Once the music started, disco lights went on and everyone started moving around and dancing as if we were in "Club Christian" or something. After the first song was over, the band started playing another one. As the intro was playing, I leaned over to Rex and yelled over the music, "This sounds like an intro to a Guns and Roses song." He agreed, and he KNOWS his classic rock, so I know I am not crazy in thinking that. The song that followed the intro was a hard rock song about death and heaven. I am pretty sure that if Guns and Roses was still making music, and if they were a Christian band, that would have been a song of theirs.

After a somewhat jarring worship experience, we headed back to our desks for the sermon. I was surprised to see that the pastor was projected onto a screen - he wasn't even really there! The cool part was that we were hearing the same message that the Holt location was hearing, but it felt weird to watch our pastor on a screen. The whole experience felt very technologically advanced.

Speaking of technologically advanced, the pastor spent the first four minutes of his sermon sitting on stage and dinking around on his ipad. We were starting to think that he didn't realize that he was being streamed live to our location. Four minutes is a REALLY long time to sit in uncomfortable silence. After the four minutes, though, he proceeded to give a very good sermon on impatience (get the ipad connection now? We were impatient with him to start his sermon. Clever, huh?). About halfway through the sermon, he did a "congregation poll" and had us text answers to him about a question. WHAT?? We were being TOLD to text in church??!! This is NOT what I am used to. Also, he referred to Jesus as "the Dude." I have never heard this before. I can picture the prayers in those Sunday School classrooms: "Lord, you are the Almighty. The Alpha and Omega. The King of Kings. The Dude."

All in all, it was a very modern service, which was weird for Rex and I. I am so glad we went, though, because it is fun to see the different ways that people worship. One way is not better than any other, because the attitude of worship is all that matters. It helped me to make sure that I am focused on the attitude and not caught up in the "church traditions" that I am accustomed to. To be thrown into a completely different atmosphere helps me to analyze why exactly I worship the way I do. I liked it. I'm glad so many of my friends love Riverview, but I am quite sure that Rex and I will once again be warming seats at URC next week.