Church

I went to a little thingie yesterday at a church here in Ogden.  The sanctuary probably isn't the original sanctuary, there, and I was struck by something I hadn't been before.

It was like being in a bar.  Except there wasn't any booze.

There was a stage.  There were lights, colored lights, and a stage.  The drums were in a booth, I'm guessing, to keep them from drowning out the other instruments, and I dunno.  It was dark.  And it was weird to me for some reason. One of the ladies in the worship band was wearing a 60's style open shouldered jumper.  She had a sweater on, as well, but I thought it an odd choice for worship band attire.

It was dark, presumably so the words to the songs could be seen and for the theatrics of the lights to be felt, and at first, the whole thing just seemed really weird to me.

But who am I to judge?  We sang, we made a joyful noise to the Lord, and then the guy from Colorado got up and spoke.  And it as aimed right at me.  But not as much as the speaker at the breakout session.

That guy, well, he's been through his own stuff.  And a lot of the experiences he had in his own circumstances (different circumstances, similar experiences, like being so sure God was going to do something, everything looking like He's going to, and then He doesn't).  But in his own stuff, he explained to me the last seven years of my life.

So, church started out weird but past weird, I got what I needed.

So, back at my own home church, and during the announcements, there was a discussion about carpet. And, you can't decorate by committee.  Apparently we have red carpet as a symbol of Christ's blood shed for us.  If I was to understand correctly, it's some sort of baptist thing.  OK, I'm a traditionalist.  Go for red.  The thing is, though, that our own stage, where the pulpit is and the choir sit (no drum sets for FBC/NBCC) isn't being re-carpeted, so the reds won't match.

When the sanctuary was painted, they took down the red drapes, and I actually heard this said in church this morning, out loud, and with conviction:  "the carpets won't match the drapes", which aren't going back up, apparently.  They were just there for decoration.

A show of hands was asked for on red or another color which started what could have quickly gotten ugly.  I voted for red because:  "I don't care, I just want to worship God", was not a choice that was going to be offered.

So church was weird because we're meeting in the gym.  And that.

So who am I to judge weird?

And as so often happens, God took things one step further.  My pastor is speaking about Jonah.  Sometimes I can relate, having decided about 3 1/2 years ago I knew better than God what was best.  Sure wish I could have that moment over again.

So past weird, and carpets having to match the drapes, I got something I needed.

Sometimes, you gotta get past that surface stuff, to get to what's important.  If the church I visited Saturday enjoys that atmosphere, then good for them.  If we gotta fight about red, good for us.  After the superficial, what really matters is that God is glorified and magnified.  In both places, albeit in very stark and contrasting ways, He was.

And in the process, I got blessed for being at both.