Growing up I attended a couple different types of churches. In my early years my family attended a Lutheran church. That was the “thing to do” if you were Norweigan. I don’t remember a lot about it but they had pretty good Sunday school. When we moved to the island the church was pretty small and I helped out lighting candles. They made me wear this weird shawl type thing when lighting candles. Kind of weird but I liked the service. Every Christmas we had a Ludafisk dinner that was both gross and cool. The food was gross but there was someting about connecting with my heritage that was cool.
Several years after moving to the island I started attending a youth group at a United Methodist church. Like the Lutheran church it was small but had a good-sized youth program. There was still a lot of sit down and stand up time and many responsive readings. I enjoyed the church though and was a very active part of that community.
This morning I was in the small town of Kernville California and decided to find a church. Just down the street was a United Methodiest Church. I’m not usually very good in situations where I don’t know anyone so I was a bit nervous walking in. As it turned out I enjoyed the service very much. It was a small church (about 30 people) with a ragtag band but everyone seemed to have a big heart for community and showed grace to each other. Interestingly the time of prayer for the community sharing needs and praises actually lasted longer than the sermon. But, I bet most people would argue that is the most important part anyways.
I didn’t tell anyone I was a pastor and just wanted to be me at the service. I found myself reflecting on my churches growing up and remembering what I liked about them. The community, the grace, the connection that happens in a small church is good. I work now at a mega church and it doesn’t have the same feel. On some level we really try (and probably pull it off better than most churches our size) but I still think that there is a “professionalism” to our church that tends to overshadow “grace”. I know that when someone does something up-front and does it badly I don’t have a lot of grace for them.
So, overall it was a good morning reflecting about my past, thinking about my present and praying about how much grace I really show.
