Date: 10/21/12
Church name/type: Jerusalem Reformed Church in Feura Bush (RCA)
Format summary: service was OUTSIDE for a single special dealio, so the format was pretty loose- Acoustic guitars played and we heard the pastor preach and gave money and there was the Lord’s prayer
Overall Impression: I like it!
Thoughts: I keep finding these churches on the interesting Sunday. The building looks small and well kept but I was outside it until coffee hour. The lawn is good too. They set up two metal fire pits we all pulled chairs around. I’d guess we were about twenty people maybe more. The format structure was mainly provided by the guitar music. It bookended everything. The pastor less read scripture and more paraphrased it, which I actually enjoyed. I myself often paraphrase scripture rather than quote it. It’s just so bulky and unwieldy, you know?
The sermon was about David. We were asked to recall how he was chosen for king as a boy tending sheep. God wanted him over all his older, stronger brothers. As a child he defeated the mighty Goliath. And there was a story I was not familiar with; Michal and David’s underwear! Michal is David’s wife. David has just welcomed the Ark back into a proper building in town or whatever after having it hidden in the wilderness. Everyone is there because its a big celebration. David is so joyful that he dances wearing only a linen ephod (some kind of undergarment). Michal then scolds him saying, “Hey stop embarrassing yourself in front of all those slave girls!” David says, “Look lady, for God I’ll embarrass myself as much as I want!” The lesson we are supposed to take from this being that when we focus on God it doesn’t matter what other people say or think. We are experiencing God and that is really important.
Then again I can kinda see what Michal is annoyed about. She probably thinks this is a flimsy excuse for David to show off to the ladies- ladies he may have been trying to get lucky with (or maybe already had). Kings had lots of extra ladies. Is Michal allowed to have extra dudes? I’m betting not. So yeah, I’d lean towards being annoyed if I were Michal.
So I learned a new story. After service was done most of us went back inside for coffee, brownies and cookies. I had a really nice, normal talk with a man who described himself as a church elder. He had at some point been involved in the consistory (which I think I can define as like a church council) and said the term ‘elder’ was a good descriptor for someone that was or is part of the consistory. We talked about me a bit because he asked. I said my background was Catholic then we both agreed that the Pope should get with the program and be more open with the priest requirements- maybe include marriage or females. He was nice and seemed very down to earth. I had several other people welcome me and invite me back; not to mention the ladies who helped me park and found me a chair to pull outside.
Overall I like this place, the people seem nice. The pastor recognized my name when I gave it. This is the third time now someone at a new church has heard of me. A reputation is new to me and it’s kind of cool- especially when people seem enthusiastic and interested in my project. Hopefully I’m still happy with that as it starts to happen more often.
Caught you!: I noticed the pastor said of David that “little guys can do big things”…There’s something familiar about that word order and choice. I think I just caught you quoting VeggieTales. Yes?