Let's Have Church

• Today, I had the experience of attending a small mega-church (oxymoron?) with Jen, Krystle and Jen's mom. It was really interesting. I appreciated that I was able to go about it objectively - it made for an interesting (at least, I hope) analysis:
• I think part of why the environment of this church (and similar churches) was hard for me/us to accept was that it's really a combination of several things that are usually not associated with chruch: a cafe, a mall-ish atmosphere, a music concert and a university lecture/recitation. Those are the parts that make up this church, rather than more traditional things: casseroles, social halls, youth group rooms (with weird couches), coffee hour, chancel choir, etc.
• No one greeted us - as one of thousands who came in that day, it was easy to get lost in the crowd, and be overlooked as new.
• I did not like the announcement that was made at the beginning of the service, asking regular attendees to pray about and consider attending a different service, to make room for more visitors at the popular 10:30 a.m. service time. I guess I understand the need for this, but it was really weird to hear it as a church announcement.
• The people around us were really nice - the greeting time allowed us to see that.
• We did not sing any songs during the service. This probably would have bugged me a lot more had they not started with "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons. One of my favorite songs. It helped make me see the service more neutrally - if I hadn't liked that song, it would have been easy to make fun of the fact that they didn't have any (for lack of a better term) sing-a-long songs, since that is one of my favorite parts of a service. But it sounded amazing (the band was fantastic) and fit really well with the message.
• There was a lot of talent displayed - in the band, the dramatic performance and the pastor's message.
• The pastor was very dynamic, but also personal - I really did feel like he was speaking directly to me or a a small group of people, rather than the large auditorium we were in.
• A favorite quote from the sermon: "You can't work your way closer to or sin your way farther from God."
• On the other hand, I also felt like the pastor only spoke to a specific demographic - the people who have really messed up and made huge life mistakes, particularly recently (i.e. 20-somethings and recent college grads).
• However, ironically, in my post-service research about small groups, I was told that there is not a general small group for 20-somethings who aren't college students. There are "probably" a bunch that have to do with the message series, as those are chosen based on interests, age, occupation, location, etc. But those groups were selected at the beginning of said lecture series - over a month ago.
• And when I "stepped out" of the experience of listening to his message and looked around me, I realized that we were basically in a church lecture. Hundreds of people listening to the main points and then you split into your appointed/chosen small group throughout the week (one of hundreds) to decipher more meaning and take the concepts further. We were even given paper to take notes on.
• Another thing I noticed about the service - the auditorium setup was a little weird. Although setup like other contemporary churches and auditoriums I'd been to (3 sections, 4 aisles, in a semi-circle), the middle section was extremely large. Such that if you sat in the middle and needed to use the bathroom or decided you didn't want to finish the service in the middle of the service, you had to climb over at least 50 people on either side of you...or stay put.
• The whole experience was very individual-oriented, as Krystle pointed out. They talked a lot about "you", in several parts of the service. And, with so many people, it was hard to feel a sense of belonging. There was little emphasis on the faith community as a whole and, considering that's where a lot of my personal faith has its foundation, I had trouble with that (as did Krystle).
• Overall, the service was quite good - but the pre-church atmosphere and pre- and post-church parking issues and considerations were enough to make me not want to return. Actually, I wouldn't mind going back to see what a second Sunday would be like (especially without one of my favorite songs as the focus). But I prefer a place that knows me - and sings traditional songs at worship :D