Experience # 2

Today I visited the Cordova Church of the Nazarene. I went early to attend Sunday school. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I got there and the name of the class was "Celebrate Recovery." The class basically takes a 12 step recovery program and relates it to the bible. I have a lot of experience with the 12 steps, so it was very interesting to me. After Sunday school, they have a 30 minute fellowship before the church service starts. They had coffee and food. (bonus points) The one thing that struck me about the fellowship, was how friendly everyone was. Numerous people came up and introduced themselves to me. They shook my hand, they gave me hugs. It was very nice. This was a very small church, so it was much more familiar to me. It was a very family like fellowship. Everyone seemed to know everyone, but they were also very welcoming. After 30 minutes, we were off to church. The first thing I noticed, was how small everything was. As I mentioned before, I grew up in a small church, but this place was tiny. The church I grew up in had about 80 people in the congregation on any given Sunday. There were probably 30 or so in this service. I'll interject here to say that somewhere, during the course of my life, I got the idea in my head that the Nazarenes were holy rollers. By holy rollers, I mean like "falling out," speaking in tongues, running up and down the aisles, etc. I have no idea where this notion came from, but I learned today that this notion is not correct. lol I guess this is a prime example of why I'm doing this. I'm sure I have plenty of other misconceptions rolling around in my head. They started off the service with announcements and prayer requests. During the prayer requests a girl announced that she had just been diagnosed with cancer. Once the requests were done, the pastor said that he wanted to anoint her with oil and pray over her.(This is not something that I am accustomed to.) He asked that anyone who wanted to, come up and pray with him. About twenty people went up to the front and put there hands on her while the pastor prayed. It was an interesting experience for me. After this we began the service by singing a few songs. This was kind of awesome, because the pastor picked up an electric guitar and started playing. lol The music was ok. I've heard better, I've heard worse, but considering that there were only about 30 people in there, it was pretty darn good. Today's service had a guest speaker instead of the regular pastor. The speaker was a woman that runs some Christian counseling programs. Today's lesson was titled, "Sanctity of Human Life." As soon as she read the title, I knew where we were headed with this. lol I will interject here to say that I am adamantly pro-choice, so I tried very hard not to close myself off to the lesson. This is also part of my learning curve. I am trying very hard to let go of my preconceived notions and be open to all experiences. Basically, as I alluded to, the lesson was about abortion. There were lots of statistics and references to the slippery slope that we have been on ever since Roe vs Wade. What really stuck out for me though, was that she said repeatedly that all people, including those women who have had abortions, or who are considering having an abortion, should be treated with love and respect. She stated that violent protests were never the answer, and that judging people and ostracizing them was never the answer. I really appreciated that. Regardless of how my beliefs differ from someone else's, we all deserve love and respect. Overall, I really enjoyed the service. I didn't completely agree with the lesson, but I was moved by the fact that part of the lesson included loving people regardless of whether or not you agree with their choices. I want to thank Rosalie and Bob for inviting me, and helping me along my journey.