Doing Things Differently

I’m going back to church.

This past February, I visited a service at Hamline Church United Methodist. I wasn’t with family and it wasn’t for a holiday. I went by myself just to “get back in the swing of things”. I knew it was going to be different than past worship experiences for me, but I was shocked at how nervous I was when I sat down in the pew. It was a similar environment compared to the sanctuary I grew up in, but at the same time I felt a little uncomfortable being there – not because of how the greeters treated me (they were more than hospitable) – but because I simply have not been to a regular church service in what feels like forever. It was sort of like how you feel on your first day of school, or first day at a new job: finding your way around the building, the closet door you just opened is not the bathroom you thought it was, where you sit, when you stand, do I genuflect?

What happened at that service was a radical thing. A rabbi gave the first portion of a two-part sermon. The associate pastor, Amanda Leunemann, presided for the second half.

In the years that I’ve been a member of the Lutheran church and gone to services, I don’t believe I have ever sat through a sermon that included a leader from a non-Christian community.

It was awesome.

This semester (and hopefully continuing into the summer) I will be studying various kinds of responses from Protestant faith communities to the decline of membership. Alternative forms of worship, whether it’s the style of the building, or how the service is designed, will be one of the main focus points I will be visiting and talking about.

I will also be focusing on the religious category “none”, or folks not affiliated with any faith tradition or place of worship. I believe that while “none” is a practical category, it can mislead one's understanding by suggesting that those categorized hold no religious or spiritual beliefs at all. My goal is to explore other terms and categories and discuss whether or not a new one might be better.

The inclusion of non-Christian individuals in our services, and more importantly, our daily lives, is critical in our current society if we are to build a “beloved community.” If we are to truly be in communion with all of our neighbors, we must include those who might not always hang out with Jesus, but might instead read the words of the Hebrew Bible or the Qur’an, or those who worship multiple deities like in Buddhism, or even those who are either not sure what they believe or are sure they hold no religious beliefs. If we are going to do that, a lot needs to be changed about how we “do” church in America.

This is important because, as a young adult in America, more and more I'm learning of people my age (and older) leaving the church. This is important because church shouldn't be intimidating, abusive, or hostile. This is important because we should feel comfortable asking the hard questions and not feel like we're being spoon-fed answers. This is important because in a society that is as culturally diverse as the United States is today, we need to see that reflected in our local communities, including church.

A rabbi giving a sermon at a United Methodist place of worhip? Now that’s an alternative.