So today (Day of Pentecost - Year C) I went to Christ United Church of Christ at Conicville, near Mt. Jackson and St. John's United Church of Christ, Hamburg, near Edinburg described as a "two point charge," language with which I as a United Methodist am very familiar. They're both toward the heart of Shenandoah County, an Ode to which I've posted below. I arrived at the first church, Christ, at 8:59, for a service that started at 9! I suppose I felt a bit of panic like the Disciples did on the Day of Pentecost. I didn't have time to put on my white robe and cincture so I put on my black one that zips up the front. Christ is located on Senedo Road. With a little digging it turns out the Senedo were a branch of the Iroquois Native American tribe.
St. John's didn't start until 11. In-transit I was zipping up my garment bag only to have the zipper pull right off! I suppose finding a new one is a venture I will have to have some time soon. Christ United Church of Christ seems like a redundant name. Actually, both St. John's and Christ were German Reformed churches and just kept their names after the 1957 merger to make the United Church of Christ. St. John's is a bit bigger than Christ. There is a balcony but no one seems to use it. I asked about the history of the building. The one in which I preached today was built in 1891 but prior to that the congregation met at Zion Lutheran Church, a few miles or so at the most, since the late 1700s. At St. John's, in distant history, men sat on one side of the sanctuary and women on the other. This was the second time I've had some experience with a "historically Lutheran" church, as the Glade Church building was Lutheran at one time as well. Today is Pentecost. Pentecost has formed the base-word for Pentecostal, a word that resonates with many especially in America. I was reading an article late last night but it was a bit too much to include in a sermon today with everything else that I had had planned. I managed to email it to myself though and hope to use it in the future:
http://www.ucc.org/news/editorial-pentecostal.html
The writer is right. I think of myself as being a Pentecostal at heart but Pentecostal, in a land as "evangelical" and prosperity-doctrine enriched as it is, Pentecostal can have a very different meaning. Neither I nor the writer are talking about taming snakes or drinking poison nor speaking tongues. Personally, I have no problem with the practice of speaking in tongues but keep those snakes away from me! The point he makes with which I most definitely concur is - the Holy Spirit isn't something to be afraid of and we can't water it down and only think of it in our liturgy. The Holy Spirit is very alive and very real. It is something we should enjoy.
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