Cross of Christ Lutheran Church is located in one of the most beautiful areas in Bellevue for the location of a Church. The only one that compares is the Quaker Hall (which I will be visiting again, have not been there since High School) that is located on the other side of Bellevue. Both are completely surrounded by trees, and in the case of Cross of Christ, have the addition of a Garden.
What brought me to Cross of Christ? First and foremost it was to see my friend Kyle who is the organist at this Church (he was my friend who was married recently at Saint Mark's Cathedral). He was amazing per usual, it is always a pleasure to hear him play. The second was that I haven't visited a Lutheran Church for a while, and third was that it was a traditional service (reason for the Organ use). Traditional High Church services have always had a special place for me, I found they are good for thinking and are good at appreciating silence within a service.
Now for the service proper. It began with the confession from the congregation (which made me realize, if someone hadn't done anything bad would they still need to confess? This goes for confessional within Orthodox and Catholicism and other Christian sects too).
Next was the reading, the readings were focused on good listening and and answering prayers. For Old Testament the story was told about Elijah verses the Baals and how Elijah's God was able to call down fire while theirs were not. The pastor spoke next, he reminded me a bit of Santa Claus, but skinnier, his speech patterns also reminded me of Santa. He was a large and kind gentlemen and used the example of God wants us to pray so he can listen to us because he loves us and he commands it. He used the example of calling his grandchildren to him.
The question I had (since the service didn't really mean any room for God as part of us, it was very much God be an entity outside of us), why have the miracles stopped? How do you know when God is talking? How does prayer communicate verses just thinking a desire wish or an intention?
This was followed by greetings, the congregation was very kind to me. They were an older congregation and I do hope to visit again. This lead to Thanksgiving and Communion:
"If you believe God is in the bread and wine come and take of communion." This was after the blessing upon both. I don't so I stayed seated. This brought forth more questions too, I think this tradition might have risen out of focus on the first part and not the second part of what Jesus said, "This is my body and blood" rather than "Eat this in memory of me." The items don't actually transform, so it seems much more fitting as a memorial...remembering a wise teacher or person who spoke for something greater. At least that is the greater meaning I have been able to find in communion when I've been invited to take it by different Christian traditions.
After communion was the final blessing and announcements. The one social justice thing was shoes for foster children, and they might have more programs but I wish I'd heard about or seen more. Regardless it was an interesting and good experience. I do plan on catching Vespers here sometime in the future.
Cameron,
ReplyDeleteThank you for an excellent blog post! You asked an interesting question in your blog, that got me thinking. You asked what does one confess if one hasn’t done anything wrong? I think for many, they have a sense that there is a list of bad things somewhere. Sometimes in the Judeo-Christian tradition this is tied to the 10 commandments, and the ones people focus on include “Gosh, did I murder anyone? Did I steal? Did I tell a [really bad] lie?” Some groups add in their own personal list of rules that they have selected as well. Sort of like the denominational equivalent of anti-amendments to the Constitution. But I guess for me the bar is not about a list of rules that I might have violated, it is about whether I am all I could or should be. Jesus said that actually all those negative rules boil down to two positive principles, do I truly live out a love of God, and do I truly act on that love to do everything I can to love my neighbor (in part because of God’s love for my neighbor)? And fully loving God and my neighbor, and being willing to sacrifice myself for that love as I would for my spouse and children, are such big, complicated concepts that there could never be a list of “rules” that could cover every contingency. And even if there were such a list proposed, it could be argued that following that list would inherently miss the spirit of the ideal. So I haven’t murdered anyone or stolen or told a terrible lie. But should I have given something to that homeless person on the side of the road? They probably were hungry. But perhaps they should be going to a shelter. But did I give to the shelter? Did I help them get to the shelter? But I’m on my way to a promised commitment, and would stopping be a violation of the commitment that I made? One could argue that dwelling on a lack of perfection isn’t healthy, and could limit fully living life. For me, the paralysis would come if I pivot around a set of rules, and fall short of rules that presumably I don’t even know and context that I can never understand. But instead, in my faith tradition I know that first of all I’ve been forgiven for falling short of this host of unknowns and places where I know I haven’t been as loving as I could be, and secondly, I don’t need to dwell on what wasn’t done, but instead I can reach for the goal of being as loving as I can be and growing in my wisdom in how to do that better and better through my life. The process of confession, from my perspective, is in some ways like communion. It serves as a reminder. In this case a reminder that we are never perfect, but that we should always be on a journey towards something that is outside of ourselves, a perfect love. From that perspective, that confession, that reminder is always helpful.
ARNIE
Thanks Arnie. Your response is very helpful.
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