Born: June 9, 1972
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September 21, 2003 at 10:41 am
From criticism to contemplation...
I’m sitting at one end of a grape-purple pew — one out of countless others — on a vast grape-purple carpet, surrounded by faux marble columns and off-white, faux adobe walls. In front of me are gold steps that lead up to a huge purple stage, housing various musical instruments, or else the chairs where musicians and their instrument could be found on any given Sunday (each chair and monitor — or speaker — is purple too). There are also some other throne-like chairs, to the left, that I assume the Senior Pastor and his co-Ministers sit in during each service. The rest of the stage floor is taken up by an impressive amount of faux lilies, faux tulips, and other faux dried flower arrangements. The far end of the stage is occupied by six rows of pews, behind a short purple wall, awaiting their choir. The wall behind the stage is also purple. Mounted in the center of this wall is an ornate stained glass cross, framed in gold. The stained glass is faux as well — I’ve seen them turn the lights on within (simulated sunlight behind a simulated window).
This is the monstrosity that is Harvest Church in Kansas City, Missouri. It’s a charismatic (Pentecostal) church where, no doubt, countless folks are “filled with the Spirit” every week.
I’m here for a wedding (for someone I barely know). My wife works with the bride and is one of the Bride’s Maids.
Right now, I’m alone (well except for the preparing photographer, who’s really creepy, in a shifty, fidgety sort of way).
The only other time I have been here was last night for the rehearsal. (A couple of notes of peculiarity: (1) a “stand-in” minister takes care of rehearsal duties — I guess the actual pastor can’t be bothered to attend anything but the actual wedding, and (2) the bride is only allowed to watch the rehearsal, not participate in it — go figure!)
And so goes the plight of a “supportive husband” (feel my pain, people!).
Actually, I enjoy supporting my wife in most of the things she does (last night’s rehearsal wasn’t all that bad). But, today, we had to arrive at the church at noon — for everyone to get dressed and made-up and to have pictures taken. The wedding’s not until three o’clock.
Ok, now I’m being severely freaked out! Behind me, I hear gibberish and prayers being chanted from the hallway. Are these people actually “speaking in tongues“?
Now the two women (as it turns out) are walking down each isle of the sanctuary, chanting, giggling, and speaking what sounds like a mixture of African, Hebrew, and nonsense — half in whispers, half out loud, like ten different languages at once. Is “the Spirit” really come down to indwell the bodies of the two women? (I wonder what the unknowing photographer is thinking?)
My wife and two other friends of hers just came into the sanctuary to begin the photo session. One of the Bride’s Maids, another friend of my wife’s, has been here before, for a Sunday service. She told my wife that the church service border lined on a cult-like experience. I believe it. I’ve never been akin to the more “charismatic” churches — they’ve always made me really uncomfortable — and because of my previous experience with cults, I’m always a bit skeptical and weary.
Julianna and I had a brief conversation last night about the Spirit of God. The way we see it (and the way the Bible tells it, I’d say) is that the Spirit comes to live within us the moment we decide to become followers of Christ ( what most refer to as being “saved” or “born again” ). Aside from the ability to speak in tongues (a valid spiritual gift, whether we ever get to experience it or not), does the Spirit ever “come upon us” again, after He is already living within us? My wife and I don’t think so, but these people seem to believe it (they pray for it and even state it in the wedding vows).
But if this is not the way to perceive who the Holy Spirit is to us, couldn’t it then be considered sacrilegious to pray for the Spirit to come upon us after he is already within us?
More and more I have been redefining, within myself, what it means to be “saved” (one day, when my thoughts are complete and gathered, I will try to post them here). I know this is an all-to-common thread in the Postmodern Christian psyche, but I feel that it is a worthwhile one — not for “Postmodern Christians” as a whole but for us as individual followers of Christ. And while it is true that, “God so loved the world,” I think that Christ came to give us, as individuals, the responsibility to share His Good News.
But, I digress… I started out scribbling in my Palm Pilot, sitting inside of a purple sanctuary, who’s marble-floored foyer could more than fit the church that I frequent — within a church building larger than the college I went to — and all of a sudden, I’m thinking about the Gospel and about my salvation!
I guess no matter what I think of this space or the people who inhabit it, the purpose of this church was still achieved: to guide my heart and mind toward Christ. Amazing.
I pray that my wife’s friend has a blessed wedding and marriage. I pray that she and her (soon-to-be) husband are able to seek Christ and be genuine followers of Him no matter how their church might tell them to act and live; that they will know and understand that the Lord’s Spirit will dwell within them regardless of their weekly chants and rituals, as long as they truly believe in Him and strive to live as He would.
And, as weddings probably make most married people do, I pray that I will continue to be a happily supportive husband who will never hesitate when asked. Likewise, I pray that Julianna and I will know and understand the Lord’s Spirit in our own, individual way.
Creepy photographer, purple church, and all. Amen.
Postscript The wedding went off pretty nicely. The bride was beautiful. The Pastor was actually sort of all right.
The reception was simple: in a rented hall with more soul food than I’ve ever seen. It was nice, though.
There was a definite highlight too! During the wedding, a “praise dancer” was supposed to perform, but the Pastor skipped right over her in the ceremony (proof that it pays a little to show up to the rehearsals!). Because of this, she ended up performing at the reception.
Halfway through the song, the CD stopped playing. Instead of ending the performance, though, the dancer said, “Come on, you all know the song,” and began to sing it herself as she continued to dance. Without hesitation, the hall was filled with the voices of the guests, singing the song as if they had rehearsed it themselves. It was so neat. One of the women was belting out the verses as the rest of the singers sang harmonies and clapped.
This was truly a gift from God.
We ate cake and then went outside to cover the bride’s car with wedding decorations.
A tiring day for sure, so I hope the bride and groom left joyously.
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