Fifty Acts 45. Nice Service. Ugly Church.

The church I visited today looks like a nice place.  Built in the late 1700's, it stands in a prominent place in the town, amidst a graveyard that has some famous residents.  I have visited here briefly a couple of times, but never really sat and appreciated the place.  On the outside it's quite pleasant, but on the inside, it has a few issues.  Some time in the seventies, the interior was thrown at the ugly tree and it hit every branch when it came down.  The old interior was mostly ripped out, and replaced with something that would have looked cutting edge for the period, and now looks dated, and clashes with the rest of the building. Underneath long expanses of wooden panels, some original cornicing shows through in places, with the cladding round the organ and the pews all matching.  It's actually quite depressing, and I find it hard to believe that someone thought this would be a good idea.

But the service itself was very good.  I've met the minister socially on a number of occasions but never sat through one of her services.  She did the whole lot, sermon, readings, prayers and intimations herself, while I'm more used to seeing some members of the congregation having some sort of involvement.  The service actually flowed very well, and she kept a god pace throughout.  This service flowed along very nicely without the occasional interrruption that can be had when there is a change of speaker for example.

When I spoke to the minister afterwards, she told me that while the congregation are the sort of people that will happily get involved in the life of the church community, there was something about their background as mainly retired professionals that made them unwilling to be involved in worship.  It was their belief that the content and conduct of the service was wholly the responsibility of the minister.

So my lesson from today is that I need to be prepared for congregations that would prefer to sit and listen.  They are still participating, just in their own way. And I'll need to be prepared to make my voice last, as there are two services in this church each Sunday.

Only five more acts to go.  where next...?