Such a contrast!
I wish I had written some of this stuff down before I slept, but I'll do my best to remember what I can.
I attended three churches this weekend with my "band" (Vocal Union) and the opinions expressed here are completely my own and should no way be construed to be shared by other band-members. So there's your caveat.
We started the weekend at a very welcoming Baptist Church in Erin, Tennessee. They were friendly, they fed us and had a very nice building. The room we changed clothes in was about 134 degrees, but we weren't in there very long. As we started the concert, I was surprised by how responsive the crowd was. They were very energetic - even clapping in the middle of some songs when they were particularly moved. There were many "Amen!"s and "Yes Lord!"s. There was one physically handicapped gentleman in the front row who was particularly vocal - I was told he drove from North Carolina (about 6 hours) to get there! And he lead the chorus of enthusiasm. There's no way to say this without sounding racist, but it was a white congregation - and that made it a bit more surprising. Regardless of race, we love singing for these kinds of folks: those who give lots of good feedback. We sang about 8 or 9 songs and then took a scheduled break for the preacher to get up in front a take a "love offering." (See the note at the end of this post if you want to know what that means.)
He eventually got to the love offering, but Pavlov took over first: the preacher was standing in front of a crowd, so naturally he preached; and apparently, homosexuality was on his mind. He spoke for about 10 minutes or so, bringing out some old rally-cries I hadn't heard in a while: "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" or "There's no such thing as a gay Christian!" and also some new ones I hadn't heard before: "I'm so homophobic, I won't even buy homogenized milk!" These were said with great pride and conviction - and were met with a response I had experienced only minutes before to messages like "No matter what we believe, what we think or think we know, the world will never see, unless Jesus' love we show." I still don't know what prompted this particular topic, but he was loud and proud.
I was extremely uncomfortable because the vibe of the message was one of hate; rallying the troops for battle against the gays. Regardless of your stance on gay-marriage or homosexuality in the church, etc, this sermon was the opposite of a Christian message because of the hate it conveyed and encouraged. Apparently he had made people uncomfortable before because he addressed this: "When you speak truth, people get uncomfortable!" That's true, but the converse isn't: (if people are uncomfortable, you're speaking truth). I guess I'm homophobic-phobic.
The next morning we worshiped with the "Church in Paris" (in Paris, TN). The color of their words, actions (and skin) was completely different from what we experienced the night before. The message we heard was one of faith, community, acceptance, encouragement and love. There was a collection taken for some medical bills that a family had recently incurred - $240 - put in a envelope and given to the wife of a man who had developed cancer. The worship was wonderful (with a really bad sound system), the generosity was astounding (with only a few people - who live in an economically disadvantaged town), the love was overwhelming. I kept thinking "I want some more of that!" - and I'd have to think that a non-Christian visitor would think similarly. I can't imagine anyone thinking that at the first church.
This is not intended to be a post about homosexuality or gay-marriage, but rather a church's response to the issue. Regardless of your opinion, please approach the issue with love and respect. The only people Jesus got mad at were those who were using his Father's name or place of worship incorrectly. He tried to correct those who were living immoral lives, but to do this he chose to use love and conversation instead of rhyming propaganda. Seriously, wwjd.
Note at the end: Okay, a lot of times, we'll sing for a church in exchange for an "honorarium" - which is a set amount of money to cover the cost of gas, food, and also so we can save up for the (all too frequent) bus-repair needs and also paying for the recording that we do. As the singers, we also get paid a little for our time after those other things are taken care of. When a church can't afford to do that, we'll sometimes work out what's called a "love-offering" concert - where there's just a collection taken up for our expenses.
