First Day at Carver Park - a lot to think about

Craig and I had our first Sunday at Carver Park. It was far more different than I thought it was going to be. I had kind of imagined it to be like our church, but on steroids: more rockin' music, more energetic preaching, etc. But it was way more different than that. It’s kind of hard to explain. The best I can do at this point is just list out some random observations.

I felt a little more intimidated than I thought I would just walking in the front door. I don’t know how much of that was just going to a new church where I didn’t know anyone and how much was being the only white person in sight. The people there were super, super friendly and they certainly didn’t make any kind of big deal about it – still, I felt weird. I was very glad Craig is doing the swap with me. I would have felt really out of place by myself. Several of our “swappers” are doing it by themselves. I hope they have a wonderful experience, but I am glad I have a partner.

The music of course was totally different. We expected that. But one of the first things we noticed was that there were no hymnals at all. When we saw there were no hymnals, we expected a screen with words, but nope. The music minister just lead the songs by singing and having us repeat. The songs were all very simple choruses – no verses. Very repetitive, so it wasn’t hard to pick up on them. Of course everyone was clapping and singing and there was a full band, not just the piano and organ we are used to. I know there are plenty of “white” churches that do the music that way, but it was different from our old fashioned “hymn book” church.

The sermon was very different too. The actual “sermon” part seemed pretty short – maybe five minutes – about the woman with the issue of blood. But then there was a long “call and response” part that felt kind of rambling to me. The preacher, Pastor Foreman, is a big guy, taller than CT and stockier. He was really working. We were laughing later that Dorisanne (our pastor) doesn’t work nearly that hard. We almost never see her break out a towel to mop her brow in the middle of the service.

Also, the content of the sermon was very different from what we are used to. It seemed to really emphasize "holding on" and "overcoming difficulties." He kept repeating over and over again -- "Are you desperate enough?" (to reach out for Jesus.) And I couldn't help but think, "No, I'm not really desperate at all. My life is pretty easy." I am still pondering that.

The church is also much more charismatic than any other church I have gone to. There was lots of speaking in tongues in the congregation. The ladies directly behind us were especially loud and emotional (to our uninitiated ears)with their tongue-speaking. We might experiment with sitting in a different place next time. The preacher even spoke in tongues a little from the pulpit. That is such a strange thing to me. I don’t doubt the people who are doing it are really experiencing something amazing– I just can’t imagine it myself. It would be like suddenly discovering that I can fly – it feels that unlikely to me that I would speak in tongues. I’ve been around people speaking in tongues before, but I have to admit, it still seems really strange to me.

All in all, it was really some experience. It doesn't feel like "church" to me yet because I was too swept up in noticing all the new and different things, and wondering whether I was doing things “right” to really relax and worship. Also, my habit of worship has to do with being quiet – and this was definitely not very quiet. I wonder if there will come a time during the three-months we are doing this swap that I will get over feeling like a spectator and start to really worship.