The associate pastor is somehow a liaison for "greening" for the regional group. I don't know the official names of anything, since this isn't the church I grew up in.
Two weeks ago he gave a very impassioned pre- sermon, "ex- cathedra"- he says means " take it out of the church, and take it home- to care for the earth, clean it up, etc, so on, so forth.
And then, when we left the service, every single person was to take a long- life 60 watt lightbulb handed out by the door attendants, take it home, and use it. So, that's about 450 lightbulbs, right there.
There's a chart up, now, with information about energy and a lightbulb display. This week, we were to fill out a little green card listing how much our electric had changed. We were to put it in with the offerings- as an offering. Neat?
Also, there's a committee doing green education. Sunday School series go in six week sets. There is one now with people presenting energy things. And, since this is the A student congregation ( seriously, I think everyone who was an A student in high school snuck off to found this church) ( It is sometimes really unnerving being there) this includes actual green entrepeneurs and city energy officials.
Isn't this neat? I would not imagine a church where the people don't have to sweat buying, or powering an SUV, would be the least interested in this at all. For that matter, Republican spin guys in the congregation- paying attention.
Really, really, really unnerving, having grown up lower- middle rural baptist ( few college degrees on the ground, none looked up to) going to this place where the grandmother volunteering in the baby room has three children - 2 PHDs, and the "disappointment" with only a masters- I am so way out of my league. I want to rub my kids on some of these people, so that they get the 'advanced degree static." I want it.
Oh- and the mourning garden- going native and natural and non- toxic.
ari
__________________
Boo- yeah!
... a part of devotion and love is the self- discipline to grow a talent into a skill...
Location: The best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously - it's only life after all
Posts: 11,712
May I ask you a silly question? What flavor of church do you attend? I'm having a hard time imagining you as the churchy type, which is silly, because I don't have any basis for imagining you one way or another.
nobody else can, either. I'm foul- mouthed. I whine. I'm late for everything. I never, ever, ever quote scripture. I speak disparagingly of my mother the (freaky, crazy, scary) pentecostal missionary oddity. ( She married guy number three after 19 days ( no, that is not a misprint- 19 days) b/c she thought god said so. Surprisingly, this was bitter, vicious divorce number three. Umm, I look frazzled and schlumpy and not pulled together. I wear bright red lipstick, when I remember. I don't have that beatific, slightly pole-axed look, you know- tasteful peach lipgloss, god is in charge enforced cheerfulness--anyway. I'm guessing here. I am pretty much the princess of darkness and despair and bleakness, if I'm not careful. With statistics.
It's an evangelical lutheran church of america church. Um, I decided I could cope with it when we went to Christmas service, and there was a whole set of goth girls, one with completely perfect fuschia hair. the second pastor ( female) wears four inch platform heel lace up boots. and enormous jewelry. And says "God Bless Ya'll." The main pastor has something interesting to say, and he's a good guy, too. I just met him, after three years. i'd met his wife before- she looks like a model. She was a CFO of a mid-size tech firm, until she retired.
I'm not sure it's like other churches. Like, they just finished VBS. Well, there were kids flying in from Seattle, England, Wisconsin, people driving in for over an hour.....
it's not outlandish, or out of step- they kick out about one person to divinity school per year, so right now there are four ministers in training on scholarship. One's at Harvard, one's here in town. She's a middle- aged mom, she'll be graduating next May, after her internship. She's a fairly good acquaintance. We're trying to figure out how to walk in the mornings, once school starts for all the kids.
Umm, my kids go do prep work for breakfast for the homeless. And I sit there and watch them work. So it's not like I"m getting my goodness and mercy card punched. I don't leave feeling better, even when I do pitch in. So my kids are getting their "just like jesus" moments, which dh and I find very, very, very strange. We joke we are raising Rod and Todd Flanders, from the Simpsons.
FWIW, my stepmom calls and asks, "So, are you signed up for Vacation Hitler Youth Camp?" She's some high- ranking flavor of pagan- extremely not- Christian. My brother is Buddhist, after a stint as a hare krishna, after being bitter agnostic. My sister is Jewish, as in converted, batt mitzvahed, and spends quality time in Israel, and works at a JCC. My dad is famously agnostic, and collects books on the misdeeds of the church. Oh yeah, I'm closely related to the founder of the atheist society in town. My great-uncle is some sort of Mormon bigwig. His son is one of the gay Episcopal priests that are so upsetting people. He's a really nice guy. I joke about getting to Heaven on the friends and family plan.
I've had friends refuse to walk into church next to me, b/c they are really, genuinely afraid that they'll get singed by a lightning bolt. Dh is reasonably sure that I'm not Christian. I find this a bit odd, since I happen to think I'm very orthodox, and reasonably conversant with church history. I just don't sound, or look, or act, like his mother.
Oh, I worked at a bar. That messes with some people's vision of a good Christian.
I don't think I'm a good Christian, though. I think I have a reasonably hostile, yet dependent relationship with the divine.
fair enough? I don't think I sound religious, either. But for some people, that level of hostility, and frustration, and, well- foul- mouthedness- really works. I've gotten about half a dozen people back on their religious track. It gets frustrating, b/c then they tend to get excited, and tell me I ought to attend church more, read my bible more, get more forgiveness-y, talk to the pastor more, get saved, speak in tongues, read the book of mormon, read with prayer in my heart, change clothes, offer testimonies....
And since I know that the original church desert fathers and mothers were eccentric, disreputable, and really, really strange ( symon stylites walked around jaybird naked) and some worked on one scripture at a time, I am really okay with having a hard time with one single scripture, and not praying. I figure if God were to come down right now and say " I want you to do this." I would say " I am busy. I have three kids." So I don't think I'm much of a candidate for transcendant visions of the deity.
Location: The best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously - it's only life after all
Posts: 11,712
Ok, now that all makes sense. Lutherans can be a really groovy breed. In the town where I went to high school, the UUs (my childhood church), the Episcopals, and the Lutherans were pretty pally. All working together on different social justice projects and whatnot, all pretty darned open minded about who could preach and how a person could connect with the divine, assuming the UUs were the sort with any interest in the divine.
My churchy pedigree is nearly as cool as yours, but I ended up an agnostic, mostly because I'm not fundamentalist enough about atheism to believe that I'm definitely right. But I come from grandparents who were Mormon and sort of defected into a DIY Unity thing (no Unity church in their town, or maybe Grandma's agoraphobia was the problem). Dad just converted to Catholicism after all that. Mom's a UU searching for the feminine in the divine. Her sister is a Methodist minister.
I did try to go to church at one point, and I've funneled friends into Unity and UU, depending on whether they need Jesus as part of the deal. I think they're great churches, as are many Lutheran, Episcopal, and Methodist, and I tend to recommend those three to people who are looking for churches with more traditional trappings, but with a social conscience and a more modern view on who gets to stand at the pulpit.
when i do go to church, i go to an evangelical lutheran church, too. it's pretty cool, very laid back. before i became a member, i emailed the lead pastor to find out the church's views on homo/bisexuality. he said they take the stance that they don't care who you're with, as long as your faithful and only with that one person. that cinched it for me (if dh ever dies or leaves me, i'm going lesbian all the way unless johnny depp comes knockin' at my door).
__________________
Ame, mom to R, A, G, and S; wife to P since 1998
OOOooh- my step-mom just spent a week with Johnny Depp- he was the star at her company's annual meeting. She says he really, really is like the guy he plays on Pirates of the Carribbean- adorable and twitchy. And short. With three kids by his girlfriend, a French singer. But, ohmigoodness, it's not makeup and CGI- he really, really, really is way cute.
I haven't any frocking clue what this congregation's view on sexuality is. The last church we went to the one of the lectors wore a rainbow necklace, held hands with his boyfriend, and had very obvious symptoms of AIDS- like, you know, dying of it. And there was this pretty huge prison ministry run from the church. There would be guys in prison denim on the front row, not hiding in the back. I'm in the baby section at this church- the left hand wing is pretty much a popping ferment of children: there's a broad walkway where they lay down and color in coloring books. The church has these little canvas bags with small quiet kid toys- coloring books, notebooks, finger- puppets. It's great.
I don't know anyone well enough to even tell if they're going home with the person they are sitting next to.
I am glad someone else goes there. I feel like I stumbled on the best kept secret in church america. I certainly didn't grow up this way. We tell our kids they are so lucky, and they have no clue what we are talking about, which is great.
It's also cool, b/c I don't usually expect my interests to cross- so church and crunchy? Way cool. Knitting doesn't even cross, even though they have this raging prayer shawl ministry- it's all crochet.
We haven't joined yet, and I don't know why. Dh is against it for some reason. He doesn't see the point. He expects the kids to be raised in it, and confirmed, and goodness knows what else.We've been attending for three years now.
The coolest part is that every part of both our families disapprove, so we get to do something good, and it feels like smoking out back behind the school- way rebellious and an almost unhealthy indulgent pleasure. They think we ought to be what we were raised, and both ran screaming from- fundy this, and holy- roller that. My mom calls up warning me " They're level- headed, and emotionally reserved. They start everything on time. Everything is planned." She says this the way one might talk about the mafia- a tone of warning and fear and almost loathing.
Have you seen the Simpson's where Lisa loses a tooth, and it grows into a little city? " I've created Lutherans!"
didn't he finally marry his frenchie? i thought i heard that somewhere last summer...and a little bit of me died that day LOL
you know what's really funny? i sort of grew up in the evangelical lutheran church - it was the church my family did not attend. on the rare sunday that we did attend, it was my dad's church that he'd grown up in, which was an evangelical lutheran one. BUT - an ELCA church in very-rural central PA is a much different ballgame than one in a larger area. as i said, we didn't really attend and i had basically no religious upbringing, but i see that church up there and the one i now don't attend as totally different animals. mostly because of the congregations. the pastor up in PA was actually considered something of a freak among the close-minded, steeped in tradition set...and that was just because he said that the actual building wasn't important to one's devotions. whoa, that was blasphemy to them...keep in mind, though, that was (well, still is) a very, very small church, with everyone related to one another and extremely conservative. it's just interesting how churches that are the "same" denomination can be so vastly different.
that is the one of the few simpson's episodes i've actually seen, and true to my weird luck, i've seen it more than once
What do you do at yours? What's different from the one in Pa?
I haven't any idea what another congregation looks like. I just know this one. I kind of think that maybe it would not be so nice or so open if it were located in the midwest. Then it would the "state church." The pastor has said that's why he left Wis (?) Minn(?) Big yankee cold state- as you can see, I'm not so up on what's where, northward. There's a bunch of people from Minnesota at this church. They all grew up around each other, and then found each other when they moved. I think it's kind of strange, but nice.
Then again, I think it's all kind of strange in a very good way. Like, one found her church by pinning her house on a map, and then drawing a circle with a compass, and looking up all the churches within a certain drive time. So organized. My mom found her church by driving down the highway until the "voice of God" said to stop here! My best friend's mom found her church b/c they would pick kids up for Sunday School in a van, and she wanted some recovery time on Sunday mornings. I don't know how my family found their church. I don't know that they ever attended- they would drop us off for Sunday School, and then pick us up. I found this church b/c I was looking for my friend's church, so the kids could play together. I had the first part of the name right, but the denomination wrong. Like, wrong street, wrong denomination, everything. But it's really worked well for everyone in the family. I am so happy that my daughter can grow up like the women here. Sensible, accomplished, beautiful, loved, stable, kind, etc,etc,etc,,,
OTOH,( my grandparents), maybe the church I grew up in made them uncomfortable. They started going to the smaller one in the town that they moved to, when he retired. They became active in their Sunday School. My grandmother has all these verses printed out, and pinned to a corkboard.
It is such a touchy thing, the internals, and how they correspond to the externals.
Dh, it turns out, really believes I am not a Christian, at all. His mother diagnoses everyone who does not subscribe to her nasty, depressing little faith as "going straight to hell." This is a bit touchy, since she married into a devout Mormon family. The aunts and uncles and grandmothers were treated like she could see the flames haloing them. They are a wee bit put out. Esp since they kicked off ten sons to the mission field, the women all do bandages ( and a minimum of four kids each), and now that they've retired from their jobs, both older couples (her age) are on missions. They are cheerful, devout, kind,effective. From what I can tell, they are also in extraordinarily uncomfortable circumstances. They mention air below freezing, and above 100- the couple in the desert- the other we don't get e-mails, but they are ministering at a migrant farm worker's encampment.
I kind of appreciate the Divine's ability to find churches for every sort of soul. Cheerful, slothful, despairing, group oriented, monistic, barebones, ornate.
What do you like about yours? I've certainly burbled enough.
well, the one up in pa...it's really more about the people in the congregation than the church itself. the pastor was reasonably open-minded, but the people weren't - and the people were also very judgemental and often downright rude. they have a very traditional service, singing hymns from the green hymnal is their idea of "contemporary". i tell you, when we go up there, which is rare, and i attend services there, which is rarer still, i have to fight to stay awake.
but the church down here is much larger and in a far more urban setting (when i say that the one in PA is rural, that is a gross understatement), with greater diversity. that probably plays a large part in the more welcoming, accepting feeling here. there are several different services, one very traditional, one a bit more contemporary, one contemporary, and then there's the SHOUT! musical service. haven't been to that one, as it's at 7pm on Sunday nights, but i've heard great things about it. it's led by a band.
plus, the people are just nicer here. although i find that to be true of north carolina in general. there are still people who are judge others, i'm sure - but they're a lot more polite about it down here LOL
oh - and how i picked mine - i looked in the yellow pages for lutheran churches, saw First Lutheran Church and noticed that it was close to where we lived at the time. I called the info line and heard that they had a contemporary service - then when i actually went to check it out, i realized it was the big beautiful church i'd been admiring since we'd moved there a few months before that...i was going to go to several churches before formally choosing one, but i loved that one so much that i didn't bother going anywhere else.
looking at a new one, now, though. as much as i love FLC, it's just too far away - and now that we're moving again, it's going to be even further away. there's an ELCA church right here in town (that now is .75 miles away from our house, but will be about a 15 minute drive from the new house - but everything is a 15 minute drive from the new house ) that we're going to check out this weekend. i'm sure you'll be chewing your nails waiting to hear how it goes, so i'll give an update then
Left index finger, and left long finger chewed to the quick. No, really.
So, how did it go? What do you think?
The very formidable older mom ( the one whose "disappointment" only has a master's) complimented me on cloth diapers on littlegirl. Whee-hoo. Since I am entirely the only one who does this, it's kind of very nice. She said she cloth diapered hers, and then she went into a huge lecture about environmental impact. I was really surprised. She's incredibly elegant- I ran into her at the YMCA where my kids are taking swim lessons, and she had on full makeup, diamond earrings and color- coordinated workout gear. She was seriously doing weights, too. Anyway, having a cloth diaper discussion with Chanel's sister, basically.....
Again, details, details, details, and when you're done, tell me even more.
I go to a UU congregation and in the past couple of weeks we have had an Episcopalean (sp) and Lutheren minister do services. I love the different perspectives!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaxt
Ok, now that all makes sense. Lutherans can be a really groovy breed. In the town where I went to high school, the UUs (my childhood church), the Episcopals, and the Lutherans were pretty pally. All working together on different social justice projects and whatnot, all pretty darned open minded about who could preach and how a person could connect with the divine, assuming the UUs were the sort with any interest in the divine.
My churchy pedigree is nearly as cool as yours, but I ended up an agnostic, mostly because I'm not fundamentalist enough about atheism to believe that I'm definitely right. But I come from grandparents who were Mormon and sort of defected into a DIY Unity thing (no Unity church in their town, or maybe Grandma's agoraphobia was the problem). Dad just converted to Catholicism after all that. Mom's a UU searching for the feminine in the divine. Her sister is a Methodist minister.
I did try to go to church at one point, and I've funneled friends into Unity and UU, depending on whether they need Jesus as part of the deal. I think they're great churches, as are many Lutheran, Episcopal, and Methodist, and I tend to recommend those three to people who are looking for churches with more traditional trappings, but with a social conscience and a more modern view on who gets to stand at the pulpit.
it turns out it didn't take hell or high water to keep us from going to church this morning. it was lack of sleep last night that did it. in my case, you can blame harry potter for keeping me up until 130am. in dh's case, it was indigestion. either way, we still haven't checked out the new church.
nobody else can, either. I'm foul- mouthed. I whine. I'm late for everything. I never, ever, ever quote scripture. I speak disparagingly of my mother the (freaky, crazy, scary) pentecostal missionary oddity. ( She married guy number three after 19 days ( no, that is not a misprint- 19 days) b/c she thought god said so. Surprisingly, this was bitter, vicious divorce number three. Umm, I look frazzled and schlumpy and not pulled together. I wear bright red lipstick, when I remember. I don't have that beatific, slightly pole-axed look, you know- tasteful peach lipgloss, god is in charge enforced cheerfulness--anyway. I'm guessing here. I am pretty much the princess of darkness and despair and bleakness, if I'm not careful. With statistics.
as totally different animals. mostly because of the congregations. the pastor up in PA was actually considered something of a freak among the close-minded, steeped in tradition set...and that was just because he said that the actual building wasn't important to one's devotions. whoa, that was blasphemy to them...keep in mind, though, that was (well, still is) a very, very small church, with everyone related to one another and extremely conservative. it's just interesting how churches that are the "same" denomination can be so vastly different.
No, really.
Linear Mode
