An Unfair Assessment ... maybe

I've been enjoying my visit to Alberta thus far, detours and all :) Some golf, some getting my thumb slammed in the van door, a lot of fresh raspberries and ice-cream courtesy of mom's and grandpa's raspberry bushes, an old deck removal at the farm, some soccer, and some good time with family and friends. Aaah. A good break.

On my way here I travelled on a Sunday. As I passed through a small town on the outskirts of Calgary I saw that there were a few churches having services as I drove. Being a youth pastor I don't have a lot of opportunities to visit other churches, so since I was making good time I decided to stop in and, mostly out of curiosity, see another church gathering in progress.

The church parking lot was packed. There was a big banner on the wall advertising .. something, I don't remember. It was a fairly new looking building, and I gathered I was walking into a church building that was fairly well-off. Now let me fill you in that I had spent the previous night sleeping on a lawn with some friends, including the infamous Clinton Horsman - Salmon Arm's greatest treasure :) And I woke up to start driving at around 4:30am. And I was wearing the clothes I had slept in. And I had a couple days' growth on my face. And my hair was spewing out the sides of my floppy ball cap. I was in top form for Sunday morning church. Welp, I figured I suppose I will find out what it is like for somebody who isn't wrapped up in church culture to walk into a gathering, as is. Cool.

When I got there the music was being played on an intercom in the lobby. The doors to the gathering area were shut so I pulled one of the doors open. An usher had to step aside as I opened the door to make my way in. I did the head-nod and half smile courtesy, "hello" to him. He returned the gesture. He had a handful of bulletins and I was going to ask for one, but he had turned his attention back to the music team on stage. I found a spot near the doors and leaned against the wall. There were a lot of people there, probably a couple hundred in the bottom area, and I couldnt see if the balcony was full or not. A worship band playing "My Savior's Love" led the people in song. I saw people with their heads bowed, some people had their hands lifted in the air. Most people kind of stood there and sang the words. I looked for an obvious place to sit, but there wasn't an end-seat available. I didn't want to force my way into an aisle. The ushers didn't ask me if I needed any help. I thought that would have been a good thing, as they didn't know who I was and I did feel a little conspicuous standing at the back alone. I took in about 15 minutes; the pastor gave a few announcements and a girl sang really beautifully the Celine Dion italian song - "the prayer", i think it's called.

When I walked back out to my car I noticed another church right across the street that was a real contrast to the first one. There were a lot less cars and an older building. "Alright, I'll take a couple minutes here too," I thought. This place definitely had a smaller, family feel. There was probably about 30 people there. A worship team again was leading a song and the people were belting out the words, and I could tell they were super-engaged in the words of the song, "To The Ends Of The Earth". ("Jesus I believe in You and I would go to the Ends of the Earth.") There was a lady lying on the floor in the aisle on her back. The band stopped and the pastor gave some announcements, the band joked with him, people helped collect the offering. The sound guy gave me the head-nod and less-than-half-smile. The lady on the floor kind of came and stood a few feet away from me, not making eye-contact and had a strange smile on her face. A young guy walked past me to the bathroom and gave a smile. And they too, kept going about the service.

It's not really fair to judge a couple churches on less than 15 minutes in their gathering. I didn't make an effort to talk to anyone. I came half-way through. I left before it ended. I had no intentions of ever coming back. They didn't have a lot of chance to make me feel like I could belong there. But it really has made me think about what it's like to walk in to a worship gathering as a stranger. It's pretty hard. And I'm a pastor! It makes me think about the job I do to make people feel they can belong in our church family. It makes me wonder if all a church really has is about a 15 minute window to create an atmosphere of belonging before someone decides in their head that they don't.