The Body of Christ at Community United Methodist Church

This past Sunday, I visited Community United Methodist Church in Washington Terrace, a suburb of Ogden, Utah.

A little bit about the United Methodist Church before we begin the review. The United Methodist Church is the largest Methodist church with about 80 million members worldwide and is the second largest Protestant church in the US after the Southern Baptist Convention.

Methodism began in the mid-1700's by John and Charles Wesley. Originally it was a movement within the Church of England focused on Bible study, holy living, and a sort of working man's Christianity. The movement reached the American colonies and gained popularity. It was never the intention to separate from the Church of England; however, after the American Revolution, the Methodist movement was unable to secure bishops from England and formally separated creating the Methodist Episcopal Church. The church eventually split into smaller churches as usually happens within movements. In 1968, a couple Methodist churches merged into what is now the United Methodist Church.

Beliefs of the United Methodist Church:

• Belief in the Trinity.
• Belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
• Humans are made in the image of God, but sin corrupts that image and separates humans from God.
• Salvation comes through Christ's atonement.
• Mankind is saved through grace which draws the sinner closer to God and sanctifies them.
• Baptism is done by pouring, sprinkling, or immersion. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace and leaves an eternal mark on the soul.
• Practice Communion. Methodists believe in the Real Presence (that Christ's body and blood are actually present in the bread and wine) but they don't explain how. Transubstantiation is rejected. They use bread and grape juice for communion.
• Mankind has free will.
• Emphasis on social justice, helping the poor, opposing slavery, opposing child labor, etc.
• Churches range from a more Evangelical slant to a more historic Mainline slant.
• Abortion is discouraged, there are pro-life and pro-choice members. Generally abortions in the case of the mother's health are allowed. The church officially doesn't recognize putting legal restrictions on abortions.
• The Church opposes capital punishment, pornography, gambling, and war unless it is a last resort. However, the Church supports women's rights (including ordination) and stem cell research.
• Opinions vary on homosexuality which is debated within the Church. Currently, the church does not allow practicing homosexuals to be ordained, nor do they allow same-sex marriage.

So, what was Community United Methodist Church like?

Atmosphere:

The building is a pretty standard, modern church building with red brick. Honestly, it bears a strong resemblance to many Mormon churches in the area built in the 70's and 80's.

The interior had the feeling of an elementary school with its plain brick walls and ceramic tile floors. That feeling was enhanced by several cork boards on the wall with announcements and a few children's drawings of people strung together on string along the wall.

The chapel was pretty, and fairly typical of a Protestant chapel with a band playing contemporary music in the sanctuary, a table for communion against the wall, a large cross, a baptismal font, the most prominent piece being the pulpit. Behind the sanctuary was a large window allowing you to see outside to some lovely trees and the road.

Overall, fairly typical Protestant atmosphere. Nothing of great note. It was lovely and I enjoyed it.

The People:

The people were extremely friendly and personable. A lot of people went out their way to speak with us. One lady in the pew in front of us talked with us like we were old friends of hers. The pastor came over after the sermon and put his hand on our shoulders and talked to us. The kindness of a lot of these people didn't seem like an act. Most seemed genuine with it. The people of the congregation were white, but there were a few other minorities. The people were of various ages from elderly to small children and all ages between.

Overall, very friendly people. I enjoyed interacting with them very much.

The Service:

The service was their contemporary service. The traditional service was just too early. The contemporary service was similar to an Evangelical service, the music was contemporary, though I have to say, the guitar playing and music quality overall was far superior to any I've seen in any Evangelical church on this journey. The lyrics on the other hand were just as hammy and full of the same tropes as Christian music tends to be filled with anymore.

It started with a welcome and everyone shaking hands and greeting each other with a sign of peace. Then it moved into a couple of songs, then they took up an offering and the pastor offered a prayer.

After that, there was another song and then the sermon.

After the sermon, they sang yet another song and we were dismissed with a blessing.

Very typical service. Not much to comment on.

The Message:

The sermon was about the Body of Christ. Not the literal flesh and bone body of Jesus, but the mystical church body that is talked about in the New Testament. The pastor started by talking about his trip to Ephesus, where Paul's letter was directed. He talked a little bit about what the city was like at the time, then mentioned that we  should go out and serve the Lord in our daily lives. He said that it's not enough to just sit in the church every week, that we needed to be out there doing the good work.

Now, considering he was talking about how it's a privilege to call yourself a Christian, and the overall tone of the sermon, I'm assuming he was talking mostly about evangelizing.

Then the sermon took an unintentionally creepy turn. He had a mock up of the Body of Christ next to the pulpit. This is what it looked like.

The picture doesn't capture how off putting this thing was. I'm sure it sounded like a lovely object lesson in theory. In execution, not so much. It is a frame with a cloak over it with the various offices that are the limbs of the Body of Christ, mittens and slippers with the initials of the church, a blinking light in the chest that shown through the fabric representing the heart, a face of Jesus put on top of it to represent Christ as the head of the Church. Just when I thought it was sort of creepy enough, the pastor lifted the cloak to show that the frame of it was a human skeleton (a fake one I'm assuming).

The sermon itself was a pretty plain Jane Christian sermon, but thanks to this object lesson, I'll probably never forget it.

Overall Experience:

Other than the creepy Jesus statue, this was a pretty middle of the road, non-confrontational version of Christianity. Honestly, it probably won't stick out in my memory, other than the Jesus figure, when I look back on this blog. It was a pleasant experience though.

A Sunday of Gospel music and kind people

This past Sunday, I went to Embry Chapel here in Ogden, part of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), a historically black church.

A little background on the AME. Like virtually all historically black churches, it was founded because of the uncomfortable subject of race. The white Methodists of the time were discriminatory against black people within the Church, segregating congregations, limiting the involvement of black members of the clergy, either by separating black members in a different part of the church building, or forcing them into separate congregations completely.

Several black clergymen founded the AME as a place where black Methodists could worship without discrimination and fully participate in the life of the Church.

The doctrine of the AME is Methodist. Methodists come out of further reformation of the Angilcans, started by John Wesley, bringing Christianity to more of a practical everyday experience, with more focus on preaching and being workable for the poor and everyday person.

The AME is a Protestant church and has some of the core beliefs:

• Belief in the Trinity, one God in three persons.
• Belief Jesus is the Messiah and second person of the Trinity, fully God and fully man.
• Mankind is inclined by Original Sin to a sinful nature.
• Jesus died for the sins of mankind to deliver them back to the Father.
• Mankind is forgiven by God's grace through faith alone, not by works.
• The Bible contains all that is necessary for the salvation of mankind and is the final authority on matters of faith and practice.
• Two sacraments are practiced: Baptism, which may be administered by pouring or immersion, and administered to both adults and children. Baptism is seen as an outward sign of an inward grace and regenerates the spirit. The other sacrament is Communion, in which Jesus's body and blood is present spiritually through faith.
• Ministers may marry.
• Both men and women may serve in the ministry.
• No bar based on race to membership or ministry.
• Focus on the poor and community well being.
• Traditional views on human sexuality, including discouragement of homosexuality.
• Episcopal structure of the Church (ruled by bishops).

So, what was the experience like?

Atmosphere:

The building itself is really simple. A very small, red bricked building in a less than desirable area of Ogden just up from the dog food factory. There are no frills to the exterior of the building. Just a simple sign and a cross.

The interior was a simple chapel with a pulpit in the center of it. Behind it were some music stands for the choir, to the left of them was an area for the band. Directly in front of the pulpit was the communion table and small baptismal font. On the wall behind the sanctuary was a cross with studded with light bulbs illuminating it for the whole congregation.

Overall, elegant, but simple decor inside gave this place a very homey feeling that I very much enjoyed.

The People:

I have to say, these, so far were the friendliest people I've encountered. We walked in and were instantly treated like family. People came over and introduced themselves to us, some hugged us, all said nice words. Every person in the congregation met and talked to us at some point. One man was nice enough to tell us that there were doughnuts in the other room and to help ourselves to them and some water before the service. Another woman talked to me about her work at the university I used to attend. Apparently she works with the Diversity Center there. It was nice to hear.

The congregation isn't diverse at all. In fact, my friend and I were the only people in the whole congregation who weren't black. But that didn't seem to matter to them at all. We were completely welcomed there.

While getting the doughnut and water from the other room, I noticed the church had several of their outreach programs up on the board. The programs included tutoring for K - 12 students, a food pantry, and HIV awareness and prevention courses.

Overall, nicest group of people I've ever met. I'd go back just to get to know more of them better.

The Service:

The service was much like I expected it to be. It began with a Gospel rendition of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow, then a responsive call to worship. Afterward, they sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and a lady gave a very heartfelt prayer.

Afterward, there was another Gospel hymn sung, while the whole chapel clapped together to keep rhythm. Afterward there was a scripture reading about Joseph discovering Mary was with child and choosing to put her away in private rather than publicly disgrace her.

They then recited in unison the two great commandments given by Jesus: love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. This was followed by a Gospel rendition of the Gloria Patri, a short Catholic hymn praising the Trinity: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen." This was followed by yet another Gospel song.

Afterward, there were a number of announcements, mostly doing with church activities and the activities of several other churches that members were invited to. They seem to have a strong interfaith focus, which I find nice. We were also asked to stand and introduce ourselves as guests. They found out we were former students of Weber State, and that we both had degrees in language. We were asked to speak a bit for them in our foreign tongues. They welcomed us as a group and made us feel awkward, just like a real family gathering.

They then had an altar call. Unlike other churches with an altar call, every single person in the congregation was asked to come up and kneel around the altar, which we did. That felt kind of awkward for me, but it was over quickly. Then they took up a collection while the choir sang another song.

After this, the pastor gave a sermon, more on that below. The congregation then recited the Apostles' Creed, and ended with a prayer.

Overall, the music was very upbeat and inspiring, and the structure was pretty seamless. It was quite a lovely service.

The Message:

The sermon was kind of all over the place. Part of it was similar to the Southern Baptist sermon I heard, in that the pastor said, "If you're wrong about Jesus, it doesn't matter what you're right about."

He then asked the famous question, "What would Jesus do?" followed by talking about how Jesus is a great portrait of God because God himself is love as we read in scripture.

He then stated we need to withhold nothing from God, and that we serve two masters, or think we can handle things on our own, we're wrong. We need Jesus.

Then he said that Jesus promised the Kingdom of Heaven, but just as surely as those promises are true, so are his promises of that place called Hell. He reiterated that we have free will, but God knew what we would choose before we were born.

This has always struck me as a disturbing paradox about God. God, knowing that much of his creation will end up in the Hell he has created as a never ending punishment for them, still creates them and allows this, even though he supposedly is love itself. The idea of eternal damnation is one of my biggest problems with Christianity. The concept of Hell is outrageous and contradictory to a being that is supposedly all loving. I understand they teach that God is all just, but there is nothing just about eternal damnation for finite crimes. There is nothing I can think of that a human being could do that would warrant punishment that never ends.

The sermon was unstructured, and all over the place, but I noticed that didn't matter. With churches like this one, it doesn't matter what you say, it matters how you say it. The pastor delivered the sermon in the iconic style of black preachers, dragging out words, shouting with conviction, sing-talking at points. The congregation played their parts well. The people would shout, "Amen!" or "Alright! Alright!" at most anything. One woman kept saying, "Say it," when the pastor would pause, then shout out "Amen!" when he would make his point. Many seemed distracted with children or some other task as they shouted. It was like it was what was expected for the atmosphere, so they did it because they were supposed to. A very interesting phenomenon to say the least.

Overall Experience:

The church was both an interesting cultural experience and a fun time. The people were absolutely lovely and I would love to talk to a number of them outside of church to know them better. I would definitely go back and spend another Sunday at Embry Chapel.

Until next time, peace be with you.