The Bells of First Presbyterian

Today I went to First Presbyterian Church in Ogden, part of the Presbyterian Church USA. How was my first time in a Presbyterian church?

Atmosphere:

First Presbyterian Church is located in downtown Ogden. The church is a brick building that is more modern in design.

The interior was quite interesting. It was a sleek, modern design offset with traditional elements. Blocky shapes and straight lines, open undecorated spaces, mixed with traditional stained glass windows and lit candles. The people who designed this church designed it well seamlessly mixing modern and traditional design. I feel this really accented the type of faith these people have which blends modernity with tradition.

Overall, the building was amazingly beautiful and felt very homey. Well done for atmosphere, First Presbyterian, well done.

The People:

As soon as we walked in the door, we were greeted by several people. One lady who was handing out programs asked if we'd ever been then told us welcome and that there would be a present for us afterward. She then came and sat with us showing us the hymns and just helping us follow along with the service, which I thought was really sweet.

A number of people came over and introduced themselves to us, one of them was an old professor I had met a in college. They seemed genuinely happy that we were there and I didn't get the feeling from anybody that they were just playing nice, but that we weren't welcome. They seem like a very genuine and inclusive bunch.

The Service:

The service was a very traditional Reformed service just like I was expecting. Basically what that means is that it took some of the structure of the Catholic Mass, but stripped it of the pageantry and structured prayers and ritual elements, focusing instead on preaching and impromptu prayer and simple ritual.

The service began with a few announcements, and they presented us visitors with goody bags, which I really thought was cute.

The service then moved into a musical introduction. The musical was quite beautiful for one reason, they mixed traditional organ/piano music with that of a live bell orchestra. The opening hymn was a duet with the piano and a woman tapping the bells. The song was called, "Celtic Farewell" and definitely had an Irish feel to it. I was very moved by this and that alone made the trip worth it.

Afterward there was a call to worship and an opening hymn followed by a confession. At the end of the confession, the associate pastor gave a pronouncement of pardon saying, "You don't have to seek out God's forgiveness. It has has already been done for you. There is nothing you have to do to. Just believe it, because this is the good news of the Gospel."

They then exchanged the Peace like Catholics do. This means turning to your neighbor and offering them a sign of peace, such as a handshake, etc. This is one of my favorite Christian traditions because it offers warmth and community in the service which I feel is important.

The pastor then gave a heartfelt prayer over concerns of the world and concerns of the local congregation. Afterwards there was a reading from the Old Testament. The reading was from Ezekiel and talked about God being the true shepherd.

After the reading, there was a musical number called "10,000 reasons." This number was done entirely with bells. This time they had about a dozen people up in the front of the church each playing one or two bells. The musical number was quite beautiful.

They then read a New Testament scripture from the Gospel of John, the famous passage where Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd.

A sermon followed, more on that later. After the sermon, they recited the Nicene Creed and then took up an offering as the bell orchestra played another song, "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho." There was then a final hymn and prayer before dismissal.

The service what I expected it to be. What really elevated it to a truly beautiful service were the bells. I highly recommend you check out First Presbyterian for the bell orchestra alone.

The Message:

The message was simple, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we should be his sheep, we should remember that our leaders should serve the people not the other way around, and that Jesus is the only true way.

I have always hated the imagery of us as sheep following Jesus. The pastor even brought up the very reason I take issue with it. In his own words, "Remember, sheep are dumb." Now the pastor wasn't saying we need to be dumb, but rather we need to trust in the Shepherd because he's wiser than we are. But I take particular issue with being sheep blindly following someone because we are dumb.

A lot of New Testament imagery encourages Christians to be dumb and naive. Jesus tells people to be like children or to follow him as the Good Shepherd. I don't like this because when taken at face value, it says that you shouldn't think critically. You should be simple, just accept what's taught to you, don't question it. If you do, you're a lost sheep and need rescuing. This is a manipulative message and in the wrong hands has dire consequences. Because God is never the one actually leading these flocks, it's man with their own agendas who are leading these flocks. People listen to them because they are speaking for God, but if the people blindly follow these men and their interpretations of scripture without question, we have seen just how disastrous it can become.

I am not saying Christians are in large part dumb and naive. That's certainly not the case and many are well respected scholars. But the idealization of being dumb and naive is found within the pages of the Bible and enshrined in Christianity. This is not a positive message and one that should be examined more carefully by Christians.

Overall Experience:

I really enjoyed my time at First Presbyterian. The people were so warm and welcoming, the service enriching, and the atmosphere elegant. In spite of my issues with the message of the Good Shepherd, I really loved the service and would definitely return.

Additional Notes:

I'm really enjoying this blog, it's opened so many lines of communication and doors I never expected to see. I want to thank all of you for reading it.

I have not decided where I am going this next week, but I will let you know.

In other news, I will be leaving the country for a year starting in August. I landed a job in China. Therefore I will not be able to continue this blog through the end of the year as was my intention. That being said, I am still dedicated to getting 52 faiths in by the time I leave. This means there will be many more weeks with multiple services in them. I hope you enjoy my journey as I amp up the pace with these churches.

Expect 4 different churches for the Christian Holy Week. I will be doing one for Palm Sunday, one for Maundy Thursday, one for Good Friday, one for Holy Saturday, and one for Easter Sunday.

Can't wait for this experience. Until next time, peace be with you.

Get ready, Presbyterians, I'm coming to see you!

This Sunday, I will be visiting First Presbyterian Church here in Ogden which is a member of the Presbyterian Church USA, the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the US which resulted from the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

Presbyterianism is a mainline Protestant religion, meaning that it is a historic branch of Protestantism going back to the Reformation. Presbyterians have their origin in Scotland, where it is the historic religion of the Scottish People. Historically, Presbyterianism has been a Calvinist tradition. Calvinism is a traditional Protestant theology with it's five major points being:

• Total depravity of Man: That is that mankind's nature is to be an enemy of God and to only serve our own desires.
• Unconditional election: God has already decided from the foundations of the world who will and will not be saved and it is based on no merit of the individual. Nothing you do can determine if you will be saved.
• Limited atonement: Jesus's sacrifice wasn't for all mankind, but only for those whom God elected to save.
• Irresistible grace: That those whom God has elected to save cannot resist the gift of salvation. Essentially, if God has chosen to save you, you will be saved.
• Perseverance of the saints: Those whom God has elected to save will be faithful to him to the end. Those who fall away were not truly saved to begin with.

The Presbyterian Church USA has modernized as time has gone on and allows a spectrum of belief within their congregations. Essentially, they are rooted in their Calvinist history but informed by modernity which I like.

Some of the more modern aspects of the faith:

• Ordination of women
• Open discussion on allowing homosexuality
• Academic approach to studying the scriptures
• Diversity of beliefs
• Gender equality
• A focus on human rights

I'm quite excited to see this church in action and I'm looking forward to my first adventure in a Presbyterian Church.

Wish me luck. Until next time, peace be with you.

A faith that doesn't believe in matter, illness, suffering, or even death.

Today I went to the Church of Christ, Scientist. I was expecting this to be different from any other church experience, and that is indeed what was delivered.

Atmosphere:

The First Church of Christ, Science here in Ogden is located in the middle of downtown. It's a small yellow building on the older side of things around here, meaning it's more than 50 years old at this point. I find the building to be quite a lovely piece of architecture, it partly reminds me of a classical temple.

It looks a little more white in this picture than it is in real life.

Please note that this sign has the words, "All are welcome," on it and remember that as you read "The People" section of this blog.

The interior was quite lovely, it was an old church building with white walls with wooden molding and old wooden pews. The windows were purple and amber marbled stained glass. Along back wall was a quote from their founder, Mary Baker Eddy, which said, "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need."

The front pulpit was very classic looking. A raised platform with a couple stairs leading up to it and a traditional pulpit before which was a flower arrangement.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but in the center of the wall behind above the door are gold letters that say, "God is Love."

Prior to the service, there was some really beautiful prerecorded music playing. It was classical in nature and felt multicultural.

Overall, the atmosphere was classic and beautiful.

The People:

The people here were interesting. When we first arrived, there was a soft spoken lady who asked us if it was our first time in a Christian Science church. When we confirmed that it was, she gladly showed us the quarterly publication that they use for their services and gave us a rundown of what would happen.

There were a few others who were really nice to us and seemed like really fun people to know in day to day life.

But then there was the first reader (the lady who mainly ran the service). She came over to us after the service and asked us who we were and where we were from. I had two friends who accompanied me, Austin and Lisa. Austin has a degree in zoology and in chemistry, thus has quite an extensive background in science. (More on that later.) Austin had a few questions for the reader after the service. He asked if the text they were reading from was written by the woman who founded their church, Mary Baker Eddy. When he asked that, the lady in a very rude tone said, "You don't know who she is? What are you guys doing here?" It was clear from this statement and how she treated us the rest of the time there that she did not want us there at all.

There was another woman who talked to me and Lisa about our travels. She was kind of pretentious about things, but overall was kind to us and wanted to show us a lot.

I got a couple of mixed messages from the people at this church. It seemed some were really glad to have us there, while others, particularly the first reader, were really upset that we had come. I've felt in a few churches before that we were viewed with suspicion or not wanted there, but that was just a feeling. In this instance, words seemed to very strongly imply we weren't welcome, at least by one of the people in charge.

The people at this church were a mixed bag.

The Service:

The service at this church is probably the most rigidly structured of any church I have been to yet. They said that the service was the same everywhere you went in the world. I have heard this from a number of churches before, but what I didn't realize was that the service would be identical worldwide down to the last detail. The hymns, readings, and "sermon" are chosen in advance for each week and every Christian Science church in the world follows it.

The service begins with a hymn. The hymn they sang was to the tune of "Nearer My God to Thee" but had completely different lyrics. I couldn't understand why the change in lyrics as there's nothing in their theology that would be opposed to the lyrics of "Nearer My God to Thee."

After the hymn, they had a short scripture reading, followed by silent prayer and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. Their version of the Lord's Prayer was the same as every other church I've been to where they recite it, except between each line, they would read an interpretation of the line by Mary Baker Eddy. I sort of found Mrs. Eddy's commentary on the matter to be virtually unnecessary as they didn't really say much that was different from the text itself, nor did it add much new dimension. About the only thing that was significant in her commentary, at least to my eyes, was that it referred to God as Father-Mother God.

Afterward, there was another hymn called "Satisfied" written by Mary Baker Eddy, followed by announcements, and then a solo song. The solo was a prerecorded duet that was played from the pulpit. After the solo, a brief explanation to the subject of the lesson was given.We then had a responsive reading which was similar to the psalm reading in a Catholic church, except it was an amalgam of multiple scriptures.

This then led into the "sermon" portion of the service. To see why I put that in quotes, please see "The Message" section below.

After the "sermon," there was collection taken up, another hymn sung, then a brief, recited prayer at the very end before we were dismissed.

The service was very mechanical with no individual thought, no personalization, and absolutely no deviating from the script printed by the mother church. As a result, it was quite monotonous and felt devoid of life. I was not expecting this from the service. I was actually hoping for something more interesting and more life to it being that this church was once upon a time, a rapidly growing and influential body. I expected to see something with vigor that stirred up the masses, but I saw nothing of that nature.

The Message:

As I said, I am putting the word "sermon" in quotes for this church. This is because there wasn't actually a sermon. Not in the traditional sense. The "sermon" was a list of biblical verses that would be read by the second reader. Afterward, the first reader would read a selection from the textbook written by Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This book is put on par with the Bible as an authority in faith. It's seen as a supplement to and commentary on the Bible. The reader said, "The Bible and Christian Science textbook are our only preacher." There was no commentary nor individual input on the readings.

The subject matter this week was on matter. Christian Science practitioners have a very Gnostic view on the material world. To them, all matter is an illusion. It's a false reality created by our five senses lying to us. The readings referred to matter as "an error in statement" and "a human concept." For them, the only reality is spiritual reality, and ultimately God is the source of all spirit, therefore God is all that is real.

Because of this view of the world, they don't view pain, illness, suffering, or even death as real things. For them, they're all illusions that can be cured with proper thought. As such, they discourage regular medical treatment and encourage only spiritual healing and changing your perception of reality.

This is an extremely dangerous view to have in my opinion. How many lives could be improved or saved through our incredible advancements in modern medicine? The placebo effect can only go so far.

I found the message here quite upsetting. My friend, Austin, will be covering the more scientific dimensions of this. For that, please check out his blog: http://52paths.blogspot.com/

Overall Experience:

This was not the experience I anticipated. I found it dry and uninspiring. Their denunciation of medicine and denial of material realities astounds me and I feel it is a system that is harmful.

Additional Comments:

There will be a video blog up later this week about my time at this church and maybe a bit on the previous ones.

I have yet to choose next week's church. Hopefully I will have decided by tomorrow.

Until next time, peace be with you.

Going to be healed by the Christian Science Practitioners

I've decided this week to check out the Church of Christ, Science here in Ogden. I admit that this is one denomination I'm not incredibly familiar with. About all I knew going into all of this was that they're a Christian group started by Mary Baker Eddy in the 1800's, that they focus strongly on faith healing, and they have a pretty decent newspaper. So, in doing a bit of research, I can tell you a little more about the Christian Science Practitioners.

Similarities to mainstream Christianity:

• Belief that Jesus is the Messiah.
• Belief in the Bible (they use the King James Version in their services, but it's not a required translation to use.)
• Belief in the Trinity, one God in three persons.
• Belief that Jesus died for mankind.

Teachings unique to Christian Science practitioners:

• Belief that Mary Baker Eddy, their founder, discovered the hidden healing truths within the Bible that existed in the primitive Christian Church, but had been lost over the centuries.
• Suffering is an illusion, an error in the perception of reality. You can overcome suffering by aligning with God and adhering to Christian Science practices.
• Promotion of faith healing as superior to conventional medicine as it heals the entirety of the person. Conventional medicine is discouraged, but not forbidden nor demonized, but seen as incomplete.
• Salvation comes through realizing yourself as a part of God and seeking to unite yourself with that being.
• Only the spiritual reality exists. All else is an illusion caused by our errors in thought and perception.

I can't find much about what I should expect from the service. They seem quite different than anything else I will have experienced up to this point. I'm looking forward to seeing them and learning a bit more about this faith.

I'll let you know how everything goes. Until next time, peace be with you.

Speaking in tongues and seeking God's reward

Yesterday, I went to New Beginnings Apostolic Church, a member of the United Pentecostal Church International, which is a Oneness Pentecostal church. What was my time like among the Oneness Pentecostals? Was I washed in the Spirit?

Atmosphere:

New Beginnings Apostolic Church is located in the small city of Clearfield, Utah. Coincidentally, I used to have a job at an employer in the strip mall where it is located. An odd thing about this strip mall is that there are four churches located in it, two Spanish speaking churches, and two English speaking ones. My friend, Austin, jokingly referred to it as the Sacred Strip Mall. I thought this was a cute designation for it. Here is one of the Spanish speaking churches in the strip mall.

The church we were after was located on the south side of the complex. It was a humble space with a simple sign out front.

And of course, there was a little sandwich board sign letting people know where the church was a little more easily out in front.

I wasn't able to get any pictures of the interior, so I will do my best to describe it. When you first entered, there was a small entryway with little to no decoration. There is a large, metal watering trough off in a corner that is used for baptisms. to the right of the entryway was a small hallway leading to the chapel.

The chapel was on the smaller side with about five or six rows of fold out chairs arranged so there was an aisle down the center. There was a drum set in front on the right side with an acoustic screen around it so that it wasn't too loud for the congregation. On the left side there was a keyboard and between them, a wooden pulpit. Arranged in various places were fake plants of various kinds, and on either side of the wall behind the pulpit were two floral wreathes.

Given that this church clearly doesn't have a lot of funds, I think they've done a good job creating a warm and homey feeling chapel.

The People:

The people of this church were quite interesting. They were quite warm and welcoming to us. All the members went out of their way to introduce themselves to us and even made small talk. But they also seemed very suspicious of us. When we first walked towards the building, there were two guys standing in front of the door talking. They stopped talking and looked at us awkwardly for several seconds. I wanted to get in, but the guy wouldn't move from in front of the door. He then said, "Are you guys in the right place?"

I responded with, "Yes, we're here for the service."

After I said that, his demeanor changed and he welcomed us in. A couple young ladies came and gave us visitor's cards and told us a bit about the service. I made small talk with one and talked about how I once had to help a friend suddenly move due to an unforeseen tragedy. She responded by saying imagine the blessing coming to you for doing that.

I know she was being kind and meant well, but I have never liked this mentality. I don't believe in doing good things because you expect some kind of reward out of it. If you do, I feel you miss the entire point. You should do good things because they are good and the right thing to do.

When I walked in, I felt all eyes were on me and they were wondering who I was, why I was in their chapel, and that they didn't want me there. But to my face, they were very nice and kind and didn't say anything to indicate what I very strongly felt from their body language.

As I walked in, I saw many of the people there were kneeling facing the seats of their fold out chairs. Some were chanting things like, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Others were silent.

I got quite the impression from just walking into the chapel that these people took their faith very seriously.

The Service:

The service started out with the pastor saying a few words. He had a fire and passion about everything he was saying. As he was speaking, a young woman played music on the keyboard. I don't remember much of what was said at this point in the service before they went into their first hymn for which we all stood.

The hymn was called, "Welcome Holy Spirit." The music in general was very alive and upbeat, but quite repetitive. I wonder if they use it much like a mantra, or if the music is just repetitive for the sake of being repetitive. After singing the first hymn, they sang a hymn called, "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus." This again was uplifting and peppy, yet repetitive. The pastor stood in front of the children and danced a little with them. I found that quite charming and cute.

Afterward there was another little speech. The speech included him stating that they were the one true faith on earth and that they had to go out and convert every single person to the Gospel and that Satan was working hard against them.

There were a few announcements, one of which included going to a member's new house after the service and blessing it with olive oil to cast out any of the demons that may live there. I found this quite interesting. I'm noticing a trend among Pentecostals that they seem to believe they are involved in some literal battle with real demons.

They then sang another hymn filled with the same passion that I saw before with people jumping around, dancing, shouting out, arms raised to the air, crying, etc.

Towards the end of the song, and for a while afterward, one woman spoke in tongues. It was an interesting phenomenon to watch. Everyone in the congregation continued on as if nothing was happening, but the woman kept shouting out gibberish with her arms raised up and crying. I still don't really know what to make of it.

The pastor then talked about why he got saved and why everyone needs to get saved, because he fears Hell. He says that he serves God because he knows what the alternative is and fears going to Hell. Again, much like the statement above, I don't find this a good motivation for doing good. It's self serving and not filled with love or compassion.

Afterward, the assistant pastor, coincidentally, an old coworker of mine, got up and delivered the main sermon. See "The Message" portion for that.

After the sermon, the young lady came up and played piano again while another girl accompanied her on drums. The pastor said a few words. He then invited people to come up to the bench, which he referred to as an altar, and confess their sins to the Lord and come before him in a spirit of prayer.

The people came up to the altar or knelt down in front of their chairs, their faces towards their seats. The people prayed in many different ways, some were silent, some chanting the name of Jesus, some speaking in tongues, many of them crying. It was moving to watch but also oddly disturbing. I can't put my finger on why, but there was something about watching this experience that was quite unsettling to me. I felt this overwhelming urge to approach a few of them and ask them what it was in their life that they were trying to fill because a few of them, but one man in particular, I saw a lot of pain and sadness his prayer as he knelt there sobbing into his chair.

The service ended with another hymn. I really enjoyed the music, and the community seemed very close to each other, but overall, the service didn't move me, but instead made me just itch to leave as soon as possible mostly because of the message.

The Message:

The assistant pastor gave the message. It seemed as though it would be coherent as for the first ten minutes or so, he was talking about the passion of Jesus and what it meant to sinners. But it quickly disintegrated into a free form of unrelated topics. The sermon was long, lasting nearly an hour and a half.

Much of the sermon seemed dedicated to boasting about how wonderful their church was, and how horribly wrong the Mormons were. I don't think this is the best way to bring converts to your faith, by openly bashing another from the pulpit.

Another thing he said that upset me was that things in your life go wrong it's because you're seeking after your own desires and not God's desires. That the world is a bad place because of the sin of Adam and Eve, but if you seek after the Kingdom of God, everything in your life will somehow work out. And if God see's his children doing well, often he'll pour out blessings upon them. No one is promised great prosperity but God will provide for them. This is one of the oversimplified messages of modern Christianity I really take issue with and led to my lack of belief. How do you honestly look at the true suffering in this world, people tortured by disease and famine who constantly cry out and trust that God will deliver them, but still they die by the thousands through no fault of their own and say that God honestly provides for all his children if they're faithful to him? Most of the time, the only sin these people committed was being born in the wrong country. Why is it that so many Americans seem to think that God dotes on them with material comforts and is seeking to make their lives as meaningful as possible, but they think this same God neglects the heart wrenching cries of millions of people every day who he will never deliver from their suffering except with the release of death? I don't want to serve a God like that, and I don't want to indulge these ultimately narcissistic tendencies I see in a lot of American Christians in this regard.

I really tried to find something good out of this sermon, but after that, it was really hard for me to see any good in it. All I could see was that religion was about how they felt and what they could get out of doing good and believing in God. Every part of the message had some sort of "this is what's in it for you" angle to it and this really bothered me.

Overall, the message was long and unorganized. The only things that took me out of my boredom during the second half of the sermon were the people responding with, "That's right!" and "Amen!" and applause and shouting.

Overall experience:

I didn't enjoy this experience too much. It brought up a lot of my issues I have with modern Christianity, particularly it's American incarnation. It was all about converting everybody, look how righteous we are, what reward people got for doing good or having adequate faith, or overt and often obscenely grand displays of piety for the sake of being seen. I was very put off by this body and I will not be returning to this church.

Additional comments:

I have yet to decide where I'm going next week. So you're going to just have to wait for the pre-service blog to discover that.

Until next time, peace be with you.

Blessed are you, Adonai, Sovereign of the Universe...

Yesterday, I went to Congregation Brith Sholem, a synagogue here in Ogden. If you didn't have a chance to read the update on the pre-service blog for this, my friend who is a congregant at Kol Ami was unable to make it due to personal issues. So, I chose the synagogue closer to home. What was my first time in a synagogue like?

Atmosphere:

Brith Sholem is not located in a good part of town. I assume that it was built back when this area was nice, but as it is today, it's not prime real estate. When you first pull up to it, it's a modest brick building with white columns on the facade of the building.

But, when you enter the doors of the synagogue, you are no longer in downtown Ogden, but transported to a sanctuary of peace and simple beauty. The walls are all white, and there is a simple area when you first walk in that's used for practical purposes like social functions, keeping kippot (yarmulkes), prayer shawls, prayer books, etc.

The main sanctuary is separated from this area through a doorway. The main sanctuary is also white with red chairs lined up facing the front.

At the front of the sanctuary is a raised platform separated by a rail. Upon this platform is a piano to the right side with a menorah, the Shabbat (Sabbath) candlesticks, and flower arrangements.

Of course the most important part of the sanctuary are the bimah, a large table decorated with fine cloths used for reading the Torah, and behind the bimah is the arc, a cabinet which contains the Torah scrolls. This is the most sacred space in a synagogue and represents God's presence on Earth through the Word.

Along the walls of the sanctuary are five modern, stained glass windows. One is a window which represents the menorah and the Torah.

The other four windows represent the four seasons. This first one  represents Spring and was my favorite.

The atmosphere at Brith Sholem was very lovely and I found it to be a very pleasant gem in Ogden.

The People:

The people were extremely welcoming and kind to us. I was accompanied by two of my oldest and dearest friends, Lisa and Heather. None of us are Jewish and this was the first time any of us had ever been in a synagogue. As soon as we walked in, a nice gentleman asked us who we were, where we were from, and showed us the prayer books and explained a bit about the service. Most members of the congregation came and introduced themselves to us. The one that suck out the most to me was the president of the congregation. She seemed like a lovey and kind hearted woman. After the service she came over and talked to us about about some of the traditions of Judaism and was very kind in welcoming us back later.

The service was truly a community effort with people from the congregation of all ages participating in the service in one role or another. I really enjoyed this as it made it feel like everyone was potentially as important as the other.

The community seems very close knit and full of joy. I felt very at home and at peace there.

The Service:

The service was breathtaking. The service was lead by the student rabbi, a young woman who is going to be a great rabbi since she's already a very good student rabbi, who is doing her internship at this congregation and visits once a month.

I very much enjoyed the Hebrew hymns. It was so beautiful to hear the Psalms in their original language, and, though I don't understand Hebrew, I could tell just from how these hymns were sung that they were saturated with meaning. I actually didn't like when they started singing the hymns in English, as I felt it lost something in the process of translation.

There were a number of hymns and prayers that were said, I couldn't understand most of it because it was in Hebrew, but I did read the translations below the text a lot of the time. If you asked to now to remember a lot of what was said though, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I want to go back and learn more about this service.

The service then moved to the Torah reading. They opened the arc and brought the Torah scrolls around the congregation. Everyone either touched their books or prayer shawls to the Torah before kissing the book or prayer shall. They then read from the Torah in Hebrew. There was a melody that went along with reading each sentence that made the reading very moving.

Afterward, the student rabbi delivered a sermon. More on that in the message section.

Afterward, there were a series of prayers for various things. First was a prayer for those in the community who were sick. They mentioned a few names of those suffering with an affliction. Then the rabbi asked to congregation to name any names of people needing prayers for healing as she met their eyes. She then looked each member of the congregation in the eye and heard the names of various people afflicted with illness. A prayer was then said for healing for them.

Next were prayers for the community and nation, followed by a prayer for the State of Israel, which mostly focused on peace.

After this was a memorial prayer for those who had died. As done previously, the rabbi mentioned several names of members who had passed that they were remembering in particular, then asked the congregation to name anyone they wanted to remember. There was then a prayer for the memorial of the dead. This was, for some reason, my favorite part of the service.

After the service, there was a light potluck that I wished I could have stayed for longer, but I had things that I needed to do.

The Message:

The sermon the rabbi gave was one I related to very well. She mentioned how the reading was about Moses investing Aaron as the High Priest. As the text is sung out loud, there is a special melody used at the moment Moses is about to anoint Aaron. This melody is only sung a few other places when reading from the Torah and always indicates a moment of hesitation. Moses hesitates at this moment because in this moment, if Aaron is invested as the High Priest, Moses shall never be the High Priest and must accept another role and find his place in the community.

The rabbi then related a personal story of how when she was a teacher, she had grown fond of a student, and how hard it was to face and tell this student that she was leaving him and her profession behind to become a rabbi. She mentioned that the transition scared her, and that often our biggest changes in life come with a lot of hesitation and anxiety. But these feelings often indicate that we are moving into a path that will change us drastically, but is where we need to go. Being that my personal life is making a bunch of huge shifts very soon I related to this sermon. I think this is a message we all relate to at one point or another.

I knew before this that Jews had a complex way of looking at their scriptures, but until yesterday, I had no idea just how multi-layered it was. These melodies that accompany the readings are codified ways of adding more depth and meaning to the text. In Judaism, it seems, the words on the page and the stories within are not the end of the reading. To only see that would be the same as only seeing your face on the glass of a window and not the world outside. I feel this is something Christians need to learn from their Jewish brothers and sisters. I feel in the modern world, Christians often take a very surface level meaning of their religion and holy text. I feel there is much that could enrich them from their parent religion, Judaism.

Overall Experience:

This service was an amazing and eye-opening experience. I very much enjoyed this and would love to go back and learn more about the Jewish faith and traditions.

Additional Notes:

I did attend the Oneness Pentecostal church I mentioned in my previous pre-service blog. You can expect that blog to be up tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that.

I haven't selected a denomination for next week yet, but hopefully will have that selected by tomorrow in time for the blog post.

Until then, peace be with you.

Going to get washed in the Spirit of the Oneness Pentecostals.

The second congregation I'll be visiting this week will be New Beginnings Apostolic Church in Clearfield, Utah. New Beginnings is a member of the United Pentecostal Church International, which is a denomination of a branch of Pentecostalism called Oneness Pentecostalism.

Oneness Pentecostalism varies from other branches of Pentecostal Christianity and indeed mainstream Christianity in one very key way, they do not believe in the Trinity, but rather one God in one person. The way this is explained with them is that God is one person, the Father and the Holy Spirit are the same person, just different titles for them. The Father title refers to God's relationship to mankind, and the Holy Spirit refers to God's active presence in the world.

When it comes to Jesus, they believe that Jesus is a man who had the fullness of God dwelling inside of him from the moment of his incarnation, but that Jesus wasn't God nor a separate person within God, but a man who contained within him the fullness of God.

Like other Christians in the Protestant tradition, they believe that a person must be born again in spirit by accepting Jesus as their personal savior and receive baptism. However, unlike many other Christians of this persuasion, they believe a person can lose this salvation by backsliding back into sin. In other words, they do not believe in the concept of once saved always saved.

Like other Pentecostals, they believe in gifts of the spirit, things like prophecy, faith healing, and most famously, speaking in tongues.

According to the United Pentecostal Church International's website, members are expected to abide by a strict holiness code that includes:

• A very strict interpretation of the Bible and its meaning.
• Not swearing oaths of any kind (except in legal situations which is a matter of debate).
• Practicing evangelism, in other words, proselytizing the faith and promoting it to others.
• Sexual purity, this means no sex outside of marriage, no masturbation, and homosexuality is described as a perverse sin and those involved in it described as being caught in satanic snares. (Fun for me.)
• Abstaining from alcohol and other intoxicants.
• Women not holding positions of leadership. Men being heads of the household and leaders in the community.
• Modest clothing that covers the torso and upper limbs for both sexes. Women also are encouraged not to wear makeup as it promotes lust, and to distinguish herself from men by her dress. Therefore modest dresses and skirts are encouraged. Additionally, women are told that they should keep their hair long, and men told that they should keep their hair short or be bald.
• No use of profanity or vulgar speech.

New Beginnings Apostolic Church is a small congregation. Currently they meet in a rented space in a strip mall. In going through their Facebook page, I found them to be a small, but fairly tight knit community that makes due with what they have, using a rented space for their church, a watering trough or Jacuzzi to perform baptisms, minimal decoration.

This should be an interesting experience for me. I'm not sure how welcoming they will be. We shall see what this meeting holds.

Until next time, peace be with you.