David's Blog

David had the best story on his blog today and since most of you don't know him and won't read it, I have to post it here.


"Ours the Journey

We took the bus to church on Sunday. It got us there a little late, so we had to sit at the front of the sanctuary on the right side, literal inches away from the liturgist. From this comes one of the worst church-visiting experiences of my life.

Assistant pastor gets up, welcomes everyone, "This is Family Day here at Broadway blah blah ...We want to take a moment and recognize all of our visitors. You are part of our family, too. So if you are visiting this morning, please stand so that we can thank you..." Pause. I'm not usually on board for this whole recognition thing. That, I think, is pretty standard. When you visit a church, you want to check it out, feel out the scene, appreciate and critique with a mask of relative anonymity, at least the first time that you go. Well, this seemed, from the moment that we walked in, to be a great congregation. The people appeared to be warm and inviting, an excellent mixed - in every possible way - crowd. Something inside me said, "Go ahead and stand, David. They all saw you walk in anyway. Your shirt looks nice; your hair is alright. Don't be a wuss. Plus, sometimes they give visitors free stuff and coupons."

So I stood. And Kevin stood. And maybe 7 or 8 other people in the auditorium of about 300 people stood as well. And then, words that made my skin fall off and my heart explode. "Thanks so much for being here with us. Cindy is going to bring around the microphone, and we want you to tell us your name and what brought you to Broadway Church this morning."

Wha?

Since we were seated about 4.7 inches away from Cindy, you can pretty easily guess who got to go first.

"I'm David. We are new to the area," I whispered.

"Welcome," said the people.

"My name is Kevin. We're just visiting," he quivered.

"Welcome," said the people.

********************************************

Fiery induction aside, this was one pretty great church service. The choir was amazing, the pastor was practical, pointed, and easy to connect with. You got a sense that the church is fully involved in the ministry needs and life of its neighborhood. There was a time of prayer requests and prayer. There was a hairy puppet, a man in a tiara, and an invitation to a peace rally. Seperate incidents, those.

And then there was the hymn of dismissal. "Ours the Journey." So great a song, said the pastor, that we must sing all 138 stanzas. (Please remember at this moment that we were sitting in the front of the church sanctuary on the right side, thus facing about 85% of the congregation.) I made it through the better part of stanzas 1, 2, and 3 before beginning to laugh uncontrollably. Heaving, gasping, trying-to-stifle-because-I-know-I-shouldn't-be-laughing laughter. Of course, this type of laughter is not tenable for one individual only, so Kevin caught it too. I want nothing more than to be able to reproduce for you, word for word, the text of this hymn. It is so classic. But I have scoured the internet and cannot find its complete lyrics. I promise that if I ever visit this church again, I will copy down all of the stanzas to this hymn and post them here for your enjoyment.

But for now, here are some highlights, reconstituted from memory:

"We are black, and we are Asian, Hispanic, caucasian too. We, a Rainbow Coalition..." Jesse Jackson would either be so proud or sue for violating his trademark, I think.

"Gays and lesbians together, fighting for equal rights..." Have you ever sung the word "lesbian"? It is not as musical as you might think. Downright uncomfortable for the tounge, actually. Try it.

I have found a few of the stanzas in their entirety posted on the internet, so here they are, followed by the chorus:

"In the midst of new dimensions, in the face of changing ways,
Who will lead the pilgrim peoples wandering their sep'rate ways?

Through the flood of starving peoples, warring factions and despair,
Who will lift the olive branches? Who will light the flame of care?

As we stand a world divided by our own self-seeking schemes,
Grant that we, your global village, might envision wider dreams.

We are man and we are woman, all persuasions, old and young,
Each a gift in your creation, each a love song to be sung.

Should the threats of dire predictions cause us to withdraw in pain,
May your blazing phoenix spirit resurrect the church again.

Chorus:
God of rainbow, fiery pillar, leading where the eagles soar,
We your people, ours the journey now and ever more."

I like most of the ideas behind the song, I think, but (overly simplistic criticism alert!) the song itself deconstructs into something of a ridiculous parody of liberal christendom, embracing everything and nothing at the same time. And something about the act of singing these words, actually letting them leave your mouth, the vocal cords that you control, well, it was a little silly.

So we laughed our way through the second half of the song and then were dismissed. Several people came up and introduced themselves afterwards and made polite, chatty conversation. One really nice guy introduced himself, shook our hands, and then said, "I saw you guys laughing during that last song." How embarrasing. Then, "I remember the first time I sang it, too. It was really funny to me, too. It is kind of an awkward song." Yes, we agreed. Kind of awkward."