Monday, February 26, 2007

First Baptist Church of Austin

It isn't often that one gets to attend a liturgical Baptist church. Although Baptists are known for a very wide range of worship styles, I have never been to a church that had a formal liturgy, followed the liturgical calendar, etc. So, having someone hand me a program that had "First Sunday of Lent" on the cover and a very structured worship service inside was intriguing, to say the least. Unfortunately for me, that was about as good as it got. Let me back up a little, however, to give some context for my foul mood walking out of the First Baptist Church of Austin on Sunday.

I had to be at the airport at 12:30 on Sunday. Now, I'm smart enough to know that you never want to go to church worrying about the rest of the day. However, I really wasn't that worried since I consulted the church's website before deciding where to go. You'll find right here, it says, Our Sunday morning worship services are held each week at 11:00 a.m. Our services generally last one hour, but occasionally last until 12:15 p.m. Given this, I really wasn't that concerned about getting out late. I knew that if church ended at 12:15, I would have no problem making it to the airport. So, I didn't enter thinking there would be a problem.

When I arrived at the church, I followed the sign that directed me to the visitor's parking lot. Unfortunately, it was full. I wasn't able to find a place to park and ended up having to drive nearly a block away and park on the street. The church is a large, cavernous sanctuary. The choir was standing in the back at the beginning and some quiet music was playing a traditional hymn. After the choir sang a hymn (they were quite good), there was a congregational song. This was followed by a prayer, reading from the Book of Matthew, a brief singing of "Glory Be to the Father" and a greeting by the pastor. According to the program, we had passed through "Preparation for Worship" and "Praise and Adoration of God" and were entering the "God in our Midst" portion of the liturgy. This is where things started to turn a bit odd.

In the program, the next portion was entitled, "The Moment for the FBC Foundation." An elderly lady (who I later looked up online and discovered is a wealthy and well-known Austinite) got up and spoke for a lengthy time about how we should be preparing our estates by leaving money in our wills and trusts to the First Baptist Church Foundation. She spoke for a long time. I didn't time her, but I would guess she spoke at least 20 minutes and that, in fact, her presentation was longer than the sermon given that morning. She talked about how she was leaving her entire estate to various charities and that the Foundation was one of them. She went on about how to set up a will and what a trust is. The longer this apparent commercial for the FBC Foundation went, the more astounded I was that they would put aside such a lengthy period of time in the middle of this very formal, high-church liturgy. I found it to be very inappropriate. Just looking around the room, it appeared others were either bored or not listening as well. She spoke past 11:30. When she was through, it was quite obvious she is leaving quite a bit of money to First Baptist Church. The minute she stopped speaking, the next Scripture reading occurred.

In some sort of bizarre, ironic twist, the very next thing read (I kid you not), the very next words heard after she walked down were from Matthew 6...“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." I nearly fell out of the pew! I'm sorry for laughing at the irony, but you can't make up something that good!

Unfortunately, I found the church to be a bit cold and aloof. There were a few other hymns, a children's sermon and also a song by the children (which was very cute), but the people just didn't seem to be all there. I found it exhausting to sit among them. In his sermon, Dr. Paynter talked about Lent and how the church would be examining the Sermon on the Mount for that period. I never really felt the people connecting to him. He was very sincere in his presentation and I really appreciated some comments he made about reading from the heart, not just intellectually, but it seemed the air had been let out of the tires and no one really was stirred by his words. Let me throw in here that, by this time, my attitude was probably getting pretty negative. The pastor didn't get up to preach until about 11:55 and I was suddenly realizing I was not going to be able to stay for the entire service. So, I had my head about halfway out the door and this may have affected the way I was viewing the rest of the service. This is the reason I wanted to give you the context of this service early on. It may not be completely fair.

Looking down at the program, I realized, as Dr. Paynter wrapped up his brief sermon, that I was going to have to leave before communion, as it was already past 12:15 and there were 5 hymns set aside for communion alone. During the passing of the peace, there was little movement among the people, other than turning to their immediate neighbors. It was at this point, I left. I regretted doing so as I feel it's rude to just get up and walk out, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Southwest Airlines is not as flexible with their schedule as First Baptist was this Sunday.

I don't know if they have a "Moment for the FBC Foundation" every Sunday there or if that was a special occasion. I hope they don't. It is something that would be fine for a special night to promote or for a Sunday School class to take the time one Sunday to learn about. In my opinion, it had no place in the worship service. Certainly, to put it in a section entitled, "God in our Midst" is misleading at best.

This is a good church. I'm convinced of that. You can tell by the many things they are doing in the Austin community. You can tell by the public stands they have taken over the years. Unfortunately, there was something missing this past Sunday. If part of the problem is with the church, I hope my experience helps them find what it is they've lost. Most likely, I bear as much of the blame as anyone as I tried to "squeeze church" into a busy day. That most certainly never works. In the end, I found myself wishing I had slept in a little later last Sunday rather than getting up and going to church.

A Very Nice Lunch

I had lunch last week with Matt Cassidy, Senior Pastor at Grace Covenant Church, a church I visited recently. I wasn't sure what to expect as sometimes these things turn into a pitch for why you should join their church. True to form, however, Matt was gracious and friendly. He wanted to learn more about me and my wife and what led us on this journey through the different churches of Austin. He made no attempt to sell us on why we needed to stop traveling and go to Grace, although we all agreed that being a "permanent visitor" is not where this should lead either.

Matt is interesting. He can't help but start educating you when you ask him a question. When ask about infant baptism, for example, we got a great 3-5 minute lecture on convenant vs. dispensational theology. What's really fun about it is he obviously loves it so much. You can't help but get excited with him. He's a good guy and very "normal." The church is fortunate to have him.

I'll be writing about my experience at First Baptist Church of Austin, where I visited Sunday, in the next day or so.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Church of the Holy Trinity

For Ash Wednesday, I chose to attend Church of the Holy Trinity, my second trip to a church who is part of The Episcopal Church. The service is intentionally low key and is intended to direct us to Lent, the period of time in which Christians are to spend their time in self-examination and sacrifice. The church is designed like a small chapel, giving it a really intimate feel when you enter. Not only is it cozy, but the people there are very warm and intimate as well. In thinking about it, the best comparison I can come up with is (sadly enough) that of a pub. If you have ever been to The Draught House in Austin, you'll get it immediately. It is a local pub that has all the feel of "where everybody knows your name" to it as the neighborhood people gather there, sometimes with pets, sometimes with friends, to hang out. Holy Trinity has much of the same feel. For example, during the exchange of the peace, everyone hugged, greeted each other by name, etc. and appeared on truly friendly and intimate terms with one another. It was obvious we were visitors and people introduced themselves and recognized that fact.

The church was dimly lit for much of the service (as I said, it was intentionally low key for Ash Wednesday) and this really was a good opportunity to slow down, put aside the hectic day and just focus on prayer and worship. The people there sing beautifully. My experience has usually been that about 25-30% of the people in a congregation actually sing out. The others usually just listen or mumble. This church fully sang. I'm willing to bet that at least 90% of the people were singing. Their voices filled the place, including one song that was sung in men's and women's parts which was just wonderful to listen to. Music was led by a lone guitarist and that was really all that was needed. Some of the music was a style I often refer to as 70s campfire music. Not in the cheesy way, but in that praise hymn type, with repeats of a chorus or line in the song. This fits well in churches which use a liturgy that has responsive readings because it seems very natural to have responsive music of this type. After the imposition of the ashes, we had a regular worship service, with communion being served.

This entry is shorter than many of my entries, but I think part of that is a reflection of the fact Ash Wednesday is really about self-examination. I think Holy Trinity helped me to do some of that as I felt I was more focused on myself rather than on their service. The brevity of the post, however, should not take away from the service itself. As with most Episcopal services, it was very well done and this was a really a good place to be.

Sometimes when traveling, I like to drop in a local pub or bar and watch a game that's on. Usually, I'll find other fans of my team and we'll have a little 2 or 3 hour bonding experience during the game. I'll return back to my room and, for that time, realize I wasn't missing being home because I found a place to belong for a bit. That was the feeling I had at Holy Trinity. While traveling along this journey, I found a neat little place where a group of friends gather at their neighborhood church to worship and enjoy fellowship together. I got to stop and have that experience with them and, just for a bit, felt right at home.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Fat Tuesday

I didn't really do anything for Fat Tuesday. I just needed a title to this post. Well, actually I did have a piece of King Cake at work today. I didn't make it to church on Sunday - had to be at the airport. However, being that Lent begins this week, I'll have an opportunity to do something special for the journey. So, hang in there. I'll be posting soon, telling you about my Ash Wednesday experience before posting about next Sunday.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Grace Covenant Church

Grace Covenant Church is a large and growing church in Austin, with a membership of around 2000 people. A stereotype I often hear about large non-denominational churches is that the sermons are typically shallow and generic, designed to give people a pleasant experience, offend no one and keep them entertained. Otherwise, they may not come back. I don't know if that's a fair characterization, but I've heard it spoken more often than not (usually by people in small denominational churches, now that I think about it...). Regardless of whether the stereotype is true, I can tell you that Grace Covenant Church does not, in any way, shape or form, resemble that stereotype. In fact, one of the first things that came out of my mouth when I walked out of the service is that my faith in the human race (and Christianity) has been restored.

Driving onto the "campus" of Grace can be a little intimidating until you get your bearings. It's like walking around a small college setting. People are walking in all directions at once (I'm assuming it was between services). In fact, after finding visitor's parking, I walked into the wrong building. Walking back out, I started to head towards the visitor's center and then saw a prominent "Worship Center." It's not really that hard to get around, but this is a warning to visitors. Do not assume visitor parking is directly in front of the sanctuary. If you don't make that assumption, you'll get around just fine.

The service opened with contemporary praise music, similar to what you would hear on a Contemporary Christian music radio station. With the exception of the offertory hymn, the singing was congregational. The band was talented (from what I can tell) and wasn't showy. The service I attended was packed and, although all ages were represented, it appeared the people were largely young singles, young couples and young families. The place is rather lively (not in a charismatic, raising hands, dancing around way) with quite a few people joining into the singing, sometimes clapping at the end of songs, etc. There are many activities going on here (which seems to be a theme in the last few churches I've attended), with women's retreats, men's retreats, youth retreats, missionary work, marriage seminars, small groups, etc. The church is led by a group of pastors and elders.

Senior Pastor Matt Cassidy preached the sermon. I noticed a couple of interesting things in the bulletin just before Matt stepped up to the pulpit. The first is that it had the title of the sermon, an outline and a place to take notes. At the bottom, it had the title of next week's sermon with homework for the church. The homework was two chapters of a book related to the sermon. The second thing I noticed was that the adult learning communities brochure really emphasized things like Bible-based classes, learning community, solid biblical teaching, and studying the Bible inductively and chronologically. An insert in the bulletin advertised a marriage roundtable discussion (which is related to the sermon series). When Matt rose to speak, he said something like, "Now we come to the teaching part of the service..." I can't remember the exact words, but it was something of that nature. It is very clear this is a church that is highly invested in training and equipping it's members with Biblical knowledge and experience. In fact, the visitor's guide has a reference to one of my favorite passages about the role of the pastor, which is to "equip God's people for works of service" (Ephesians 4:12).

What followed was a sermon that I would compare to a speaker at a seminar. Matt is intelligent, well-studied and well-versed in the Bible. He is very down-to-earth and relates very well to the people there. However, his sermon was filled with Biblical references, references to original languages, and had an expository style. The sermon was on marriage and was brilliantly delivered, talking about how to strengthen relationships through reliance on and seeking God. He had humorous anecdotes, serious reflections, quoted everyone from folk singers to philosophers and really brought his points home well. However, it was not all book knowledge. He reached a point where he then talked about application and how to apply the principles taught to your everyday life, regardless of whether you are single or married, have children or not, etc. It is clear this church does not just emphasize learning the Bible, but also applying what you've learned to your life. The sermon was thought-provoking and conversation-provoking. It would be difficult to attend and not come away talking about it and digging deeper into the meaning.

As I looked around, hearing this sermon, I was amazed at the number of people who were listening, taking notes, hanging on to what was being said. As I said above, it served to restore my faith in the human race and in Christianity. To see young families eager to learn more about the Word of God, eager to embrace the sometimes hard teachings of Christianity and eager to apply it to their lives was exciting. I grew up in a small town, in a Bible-based church, where you memorized Scripture, studied the Word with a certain deliberateness and did more than just drop into church on Sunday morning to get through the hour and go home. I have often wondered if that type of church is a thing of the past and if the current trend in Christianity (as I often see it) is to "dumb down" the message so this generation of sound-bite, fast-food people can get it. This week, I saw that the message is still powerful, the words still have meaning, the people are still eager to learn and the Scriptures are still relevant.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Riverbend Church

For me, the experience of Riverbend Church begins about 3-5 miles before arriving. As you pass through the beautiful rolling hills of west Austin and cross the bridge over Lake Austin, you immediately feel drawn to the sheer wonder of the land. That is followed by driving up to a church that is near breathtaking in size. Just to the right of the entrance, you see an entrance to Remembrance Gardens, described by the website as a sacred place, interweaving nature, memory, and spirituality. I have taken some time to walk through them and they are really a great place to get away and spend some time in your own thoughts. The church, as you can see from the picture, is quite impressive. The sanctuary is called the Home for Hope, a fitting name for a place in which the stated mission is to serve the bruised, battered, broken and bored (note: they have recently added the "blessed" to that list). Once you enter the Home for Hope, the inside view is equally breathtaking. Riverbend Church is another of the mega-churches in Austin, with a membership of over 4000. However, even in the midst of this large sanctuary, the place has a warm and homelike feel to it. It's difficult to describe, except you almost feel like you are in a big, warm lodge up in the mountains.

The service opened with praise-type singing, followed by prayer and a welcome by Dr. David Haney, the pastor (although I get the impression he is just "Dave" to the congregation). The music is performed by an ensemble, consisting of various instruments. This week, they had a baby dedication service. Interestingly, Shoreline Christian Center had a baby dedication the week I attended there and St. Martin's Lutheran Church had a baby baptism the week I attended there. Obviously, the theme of family is very important in the Austin Christian community. Following the baby dedications, the church was treated to by a visiting vocalist, Donna Hightower, who sang a song called He is Worthy, backed up by the choir and ensemble. She has a great voice and her singing really was moving. There were two congregational songs, which were traditional hymns rearranged to give a more modern feel. Ms. Hightower also sang a song called Ordinary People during the collection of the offering.

Dr. Haney delivered a message that is part of a series on "religion-free spirituality." This week he talked about loving those that are unloveable. Using Jesus' famous sermon about loving your enemies, doing good to those who persecute you and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, he encouraged the people to be kind and generous to those who are not always kind and can't always pay us back. He talked about how hard this teaching is and that one of the purposes of the church is to carry out this teaching together (it's difficult to do alone, but as a group, we can encourage one another and strengthen one another to carry out this mission).

He also talked about how the concept of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is, by no means, unique to Christianity. He gave quotes from Plato, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Judaism that were nearly identical, pointing out this concept is so important it is found in nearly every religion and philosophy in human history.

The most profound thing for me was when he talked about how when someone comes to Riverbend and feels unloved, it's not what he says while preaching that will make a difference. It's how the person is treated by the people. "By you," he said. It was a call to the people to express this love of others. He asked everyone to think about those people they find hardest to love and to pray for them and do good to them. Then, he closed in prayer.

A side note: Dr. Haney is a fantastic preacher. He is both so down to earth while at the time so clearly educated and well-studied. He is a delight to listen to.

I was struggling with what feeling to describe as I was driving back through the canyons into Austin and I kept wanting to say "calm." I felt calm after being there. Then, it hit me. Peace. I felt such a sense of peace. I have stated before that this is not my first time to attend Riverbend, but I wanted to return, with a fresh perspective on what it means to me when I go there. The entire service is very professional and well-done. It's obvious much time and effort is put into it. However, it is a church that isn't flashy, isn't showy, and doesn't focus on itself. It truly calls on you to focus on your relationship to God and to those around you. Finally, as I have said, attending Riverbend brings a sense of peace in a busy and often hectic world. Whether it is through the music and worship service or while walking in the Remembrance Gardens, your soul is nourished with quiet and purposeful time with God and His people. A time to reflect on how you have been blessed and a time to reflect on what you can do to then be a blessing to others.