A Sunday to Remember (kind of)

Yesterday morning we went to church in Port Hope. The church we intended on attending started at. 10:30. We ran late so I started looking for any church in the area that began at 11. I found a Presbyterian one close enough to us that we could be there on time.

Upon arrival I noticed a few things:

There were few cars in the parking lot.
Including us there were about 20 people present.
All of the females except one were wearing hats.
All of the males (even those preschool age) were wearing ties.
The only musical instruments on stage were a piano and organ.
All of the bible verses posted were kjv.
The hymnal had hymns and then a separate section of Psalms put to music. I thought that was cool.
Most of the people looked to be over the age of 70 except for two families.
No one spoke to each other before or after service. No one. Zero talking.

The regular pastor was on vacation and a very nice young man from Toronto was shepherding the church while he was away. He was not preaching however. The person preaching that morning was a missionary from The Czech Republic. He stated that he intended to give testimonies of the work God is doing there and then preach the gospel.

He shared mostly about the damage that Baptists and charismatics have done in The Czech Republic by spreading their heresies. The atheists are very bad too, just not as bad as the Baptists and charismatics. As a pastor in a charismatic Baptist church I had to chuckle. I wasn't offended at all but I found it funny. Of all the churches in the little town of Port Hope I have to imagine this is the only one with a missionary giving testimony of how bad charismatics and Baptists are. Unfortunately we never heard what God IS doing there.



Then he shifted into the sermon out of 1 Kings. It was the section where Jeroboam has two golden calfs formed so that people would not have to go to Jerusalem for worship any longer. Using that story as the backdrop he talked about the importance of doing things God's way and not doing what is right in our own eyes. One example was dressing appropriately on The Lord's Day. I was the only guy in the house without a tie on. Modern fashions are not appropriate for God's true people. He talked extensively about the evil of all things contemporary. Then he talked about modern music with drums showing how people have wandered away from God and made the church carnal. At this point I am realizing he may not have enjoyed it as much as i did when one of our worship leaders led playing guitar and wearing a Homer Simpson t-shirt a few weeks ago in church. He also railed against the notion that God is concerned with our hearts more than our external appearance and behaviors.

I was wearing a cross necklace that reminds me of a man named Father Bishoy from Egypt that I met many years ago. He is one of the humblest, gentlest, and most teachable people I have ever met. I wear it sometimes to remind myself to stay low, stay unoffended, and that I have much to learn. I took it out and rubbed it like a rosary. I wasn't offended. I wanted to stay humble and find some meat among the bones I was spitting out.

Several times he mentioned the importance of preaching the real gospel. The word gospel literally means good news. Good News. I don't know if it's a message of good news to say that God's goal for your life is for you to wear clothing that was popular in the 1940's, listen to outdated non-percussive music, and live unconcerned about your true self (your heart). That sounds horrible to me. I think every time we preach the gospel it should sound like good news. I have been so guilty of not letting the goodness of the gospel shine through at times. This world needs the Good News of Jesus.

The missionary had a family of six people there with him. We were a party of five. If you take away the visiting pastor that leaves a total of about 12-13 people from that church in attendance. We were clearly the only ones who missed the hat and necktie memo. He clearly wasn't preaching to the choir if you know what I mean. As he talked about churches that are contemporary being too casual with God our four year old was lying under her chair (we were in the back) coloring. Uh oh.

Now all things considered:
Being contemporary is not important. Being authentic is.
God deserves awe and reverence and He should not be treated whimsically.
Modern worship music is only as valuable as it is pleasing to God.

This isn't me complaining as much as it is me processing. It was a bit surreal. Maybe even more surreal than a costume dog show. Funny thing is that at the end of the dog show someone awkwardly yelled out "Hallelujah!" No one yelled that Sunday morning.










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