Church Stacking: Week One

Week One: Here we Go!

If you're confused about what I'm writing about or why I'm doing this, check out my original "church stacking" post HERE! ---> "Church Stacking Background & Explanation"

I'm going to rate each church service on three things. Doctrine, music and at home-ness (how comfortable I felt in that service). This MIGHT offend some people. Im going to try to be as objective as I can about what I saw so please don't take offense if you personally love one of these churches. All had great things about them! :)

Hosanna (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod)

Saturday evening service

I'd heard a lot of great things from people who go to Hosanna and I knew that it is a fairly large church with two buildings. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect! (I went to the main one, not the MSU campus one). If you're one of my friends that goes there, please don't be offended. It honestly just wasn't for me.

I had a really strange emotional reaction upon just walking into the sanctuary (worship center, as they call it). I pretty much cried all the way through the service and I'm not really sure why. The service started with a video about the youth mission trip and I just thought it was so cool. Then the worship songs were moving. They dimmed the lights, tears were streaming down my face, and it was just like me...and God...and

WAIT. I'm sorry. But that "worship song" didn't really say anything. All I was singing was "beautiful one I love, beautiful one I adore." Like, am I singing to my boyfriend? Ha. Cat? Excellent lesson plan?? I'm confused. Then when I started doing upper harmony, the guy a few chairs down from me gave me a dirty look. So much for just me and God.

One thing I did really appreciate about this church was the sacraments. I thought they did a great job presenting the Lord's Supper in the typical Lutheran viewpoint. There was also a baptism (infant, mind you). It was clear they believed this was more than just a dedication. They welcomed the young girl into the faith and it was really sweet. And...I cried.

I don't even believe that and I cried, so I really don't know what was going on that day.

Overall impressions:

Doctrine: 6

Music: 3.

At home-ness: 5

Mt. Olive- Evangelical Lutheran Synod

8:30 Sunday Morning

This church is ELS, meaning that it was one of the churches that originally I was very opposed to back when I started attending Bethany. Now I'm not sure why that was...

The hymns were fantastic.  I felt comfortable singing them loud and proud, knowing that they lined up with my beliefs, meaning I didn't have to analyze every verse for what it would have me sing. There was more content in just one verse of the hymn than in all of the worship songs from Hosanna...combined. Plus, everyone was singing, and I could sing whatever harmony I wanted without getting a dirty look. Win-win!

The sermon, which was challenging and definitely gospel centered, focused around Matthew 21. It was a fantastic sermon about how Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the harlots. It is with repentant hearts that we enter the kingdom of God, not with hearts that boast about how perfect we are.

I think if I spent more time here, I'd probably feel more at home. I'm giving that section a slightly lower rating than the doctrine/music ratings because the liturgy was unfamiliar to me. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine; 10

Music: 10

At home-ness: 8

Grace Baptist

10:30 Sunday Morning

I have never heard hellfire and brimstone preached like it was here. 

I have never heard a sermon based so much on a person's own works. 

I have never wanted to get up and leave a church as much as I wanted to do with this one. 

I brought 3 of my Mount Olive attending friends to this church with me. I trust and value their opinions and wanted them to experience this church at the same time. I have never been so embarrassed to be a Baptist. 

This church was a polar opposite of  Mount Olive. Mount Olive preached hope and repentant hearts. The full gospel was apparent in the hymns. The point was clearly made that it was no work of ours that saves us, but solely Christ's death and resurrection.

Grace Baptist preached condemnation and the necessity of living a good life. He focused on the eternal consequences of sin, specifically adultery, with little focus on the hope that is in Christ. At one point he yelled at us all from the pulpit with hellfire-and-brimstone preaching. Yet, through all of this, the pastor hardly touched the Bible and mostly just told stories of his own life and how he did a great job in his marriage and managing money. I was so embarrassed, and kept telling my friends, "not all Baptists are like this! I promise!" 

I'm so glad I went to Mount Olive this morning as well as I was able to clearly see the stark differences in the two churches. One was ridden with shame and guilt, while the other convicted my heart with a message of hope and peace.

*EDIT 8/09* There WAS a guest speaker at this church. I have heard from several church attendees that this sermon was not the norm for them and they were irritated by it as well. I think I'll add it to next weekend, and go to the evening service. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine: 2

Music: 4 (the hymns were really weak, doctrine wise. They didn't really say anything). 

At home-ness: 4 (only because the service type was familiar to me. I certainly didn't feel at home when told to NEVER COMMIT ADULTERY AND NEVER GO IN DEBT)

Our Savior's (LC-MS)

Sunday Night 6pm

Oops! Turns out that Our Savior's 6pm service is actually on Saturday's! Looks like I'll be going to this church next week on Saturday. :)
Next week's line up:

If you think of it, please pray for me as I try to find a regular church here in Mankato! :) 

Church Stacking: Background & Explanation

Church Stacking? What....is church stacking? 

I'm back in Mankato, and I'm searching for a home church. To find it, I have to "church shop". But that's a term most conservative Christians don't like for some reason.....so we'll go with church stacking instead. And by stacking, I mean fitting in as MANY churches as I can into one weekend. Like, 3 or 4.

Wait a second, Madelaine. You were in Mankato for four years, and you still don't have a "home church?? What've you been doing???

Well, uh. You're right. That is sad. Let me explain.

My first 2 years at Bethany, I was staunchly Baptist. I went to a spattering of Lutheran churches, because I could walk to them, but I was pretty opposed to becoming a member of, or regularly attending a Lutheran church at that time. Especially one that was *gasp* ELS. A synod that for some reason, I felt was just a little too Lutheran for me.

However, I was in luck because I had a good friend who was also Baptist/non-denominational AND she had a car! What luck! We tried out a couple different churches- a few Lutheran ones, a non-denominational one, and 2 Baptist ones. We settled for a church that was perhaps less than perfect in our minds, but hey! It was Baptist! So, we attended, and it became "our church".

Looking back, I'm pretty sad that we went to that church all of those Sundays. Doctrinally, it was alright, but there were a quite few errors that our Lutheran friends were quick to point out the Sunday that we brought them to church. They played a little game of "spot the heresy!" much to our chagrin. We had to concede, that yes, the pastor or the hymn really had said that, and yes, that wasn't really doctrinal.

Enter junior year at Bethany and my friend was hired to be the choir director at a Presbyterian church. Being that she was my ride to church, I went with her. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because they actually gave me a scholarship for singing in the choir, and the next year, they even hired me as the children's choir director. We went to this church for the better part of 2 years, and this one was even less doctrinal than the Baptist one, but the people were nice and occasionally the sermon would be good. Then sometimes there would be this:

I don't even remember the analogy he was making...

Anyhow, now that I have graduated, some things are different: 

1. I have a car
2. I'm not tied down to any particular church! (except for 1 Sunday/month at my school's church)
3. The church I settle into by no means has to be Baptist, but it to be a place that preaches the Gospel and is true to the Word of God. Sound doctrine is #1 on my priority list. 

I created a list of churches and service times so that I can start my "Church Stacking" Endeavor. When I told my friends what I was doing, they earnestly asked me, "what do you hope to gain from this, and what are you looking for in a church?" 

This question made me seriously think. My first impulse was to say, "to find a church that feels like home!" But I quickly realized that what I really needed was correct doctrine. Of course, also the music is important (contemporary vs. traditional. I prefer traditional hymns) and I do need to feel at home, but I think to an extent, feeling at home will come when I attend a church that preaches and teaches the Word of God without distortion. And one that preaches the entire Word--not just law, and not just Gospel, but both, in a balance.

This weekend, I attended 3 different churches. I'm going to write about them in a different post, because this one's already pretty long. My feelings about these churches may surprise you! They certainly surprised me :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Having been out of elementary school for so long, (and having been single my whole life) I forgot how fun of a holiday Valentine's Day can be. Now that I'm student teaching, I got to see it from a teacher's perspective.

This year, the kids each had a gallon ice cream pail that they decorated with construction paper. We got these from a fellow teacher who has a ice cream bucket stash (collaboration = awesome). My mentor teacher and I hot glued the construction paper on the buckets after school on Thursday, and then cut a hole in each lid.

Since I knew the kiddos were going to get a crazy amount of candy, so I opted for glow bracelets instead. What kid doesn't love glow bracelets? :)

Cost: 
Glow sticks: $5 for 25, Walmart (I bought 5 packs of 5, each $1)

Hubris

I first heard the word hubris when I read The Odyssey in high school.

My teacher described it as 'thinking you are better than the gods' (gods being multiple because this is ancient Greece we're talking about). My first thought was, 'wow that's dumb. If you believe the gods know everything, who are you to say you're smarter than them', and my second thought was 'he's probably right. After all, those were made up gods.'

But our God?

Our God is living and mighty.

But see, the word hubris doesn't just apply when thinking about the Greek gods. A quick search will show that hubris really means excessive pride or self-confidence. And that's what I'm going to talk about in this post.

I've always been considered, 'nice' and 'smart'. People tell me that I'm 'sooo nice' all the time, and I've had a few friends tell me that I'm probably the friend who is the most 'spiritual' or 'most connected to God'.

So, obviously they told me those things for a reason, because in their eyes I am super nice, or whatever, but say it enough and I start to believe it.

I start to believe that I'm super spiritual. I start to believe that I don't really have any problems,  I start to develop hubris about myself.

Excessive pride and self-confidence about who I am. About how I am the perfect child.

I mean, take a look at my life and you'll see that I
-Read my Bible every night before bed & every morning when I get up
-Listen to Christian radio or my Bible when walking to school
-Don't watch anything 'bad'
-Don't DO anything 'bad'
-Don't ever get mad or hate anyone.
-Don't drink, don't smoke (anything), don't swear

So, clearly, I'm the perfect child, right? No.

I John 1:8 says that "if we say we are without sin, we deceives ourselves and the truth is not in us". Romans says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".

Of course, I've never claimed to be without sin, or claim that I can get into heaven on just my works, but I feel like I need constant reminders that I'm not perfect, or else I develop pride.

Does anyone else feel the same way? How do we combat a feeling like this?

Lightning in His Fists

"He's got thunder in his footsteps and lightning in his wrists,

Our God is an awesome God" 

There's a song for everything, I'm convinced!

This morning (2:30 am) I woke up to the biggest boom of thunder that I have ever heard. It continued to roll and the lightning continued to flash for a good time afterwards. It shook the whole house. I thought, "wow! God is sure powerful!" And He is!

Then this verse from 1 Kings came to mind, and it reminded me that while God is always powerful, sometimes He can be found in the quietest, tiniest things: 

1 Kings 19:11-13

The Lord "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Incredible

The Scrumptious Smell of Falling Leaves (And other things that make me want to live in an always-autumn world)

Let's back track to my childhood, shall we?

I lived in a house in an adorable rustic neighborhood, surrounded by trees. I was an outdoors child. No matter what season it was, I would most likely be found outside, climbing a tree, jumping in leaves or digging in the dirt. I loved the outdoors (still do). But there was one season I loved far more than any other: fall. 

In 5th grade, my penpal and I got into an argument over which was better, fall or spring. She said spring. I said fall. In my mind, spring=mud. Rain. Days spent inside, and a wet sandbox that was no good for digging in. But fall?

Oh fall. How can one dispute the fresh crunch of leaves as you trod down the driveway? The beautiful colors on the trees? The crisp air, whipping your hair around and blowing leaves around in beautiful swirly patterns. 

My words don't do it justice. Others have said it so much better than I. Other still have captured its essence with photography. 

The picturesque beauty

The simplicity

The crisp, cool air

(seriously, can it stay this way forever?)

Apple orchards and harvest 

Just...everything about it
I love fall, and I always will. 

Autumn makes my heart sing

Forever His

You will never run away

You're forever mine

You will never run away

You're by my side.

These lyrics from Rend Collective caught my ear the other day. I've been listening to a lot of CCM-Christian Contemporary Music of late. Some of it's not the greatest, but  a lot of the lyrics have been challenging me to rest in God, rather than in my own, crazy, messed up brain.

I'm so absolutely fickle, and vain and gosh darn self-centered sometimes, and I don't know what I want. My entire life has been like this.

I want one thing.
Then I want another.
Oh! What's that!

But it's been so much worse lately. I just don't know where God wants me, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do in my life, and every time I think God's going to open a door for me, I start scratching at it like a cat, and then it gets bolted shut. And even then I still try to force it.

Sometimes I think I'm the most impatient person I know. A door opens a crack and I burst through and run like mad, only to find myself in the middle of nowhere, not sure where I should go or what I should do.

But God is always there. I do believe that-I know it. And I wonder, does he look at me sadly and shake his head as I continually run my head into a door that's never meant to open. As I break out my chainsaw and cut a hole in the door, triumphantly stepping out on the other side of a door that I was never meant to reach.

How does one learn to submit to God? To heed the prodding of the Holy Spirit? How do I know what He wants me to do or be? I try and try and try to listen and hear what he's saying but just end up in tears.

Maybe the problem is that I'm trying to do too much, and therefore worrying too much. My life is in God's hands. I am forever God's child. What need have I to worry?

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord

I say, "You are my God"

My times are in Your hand

Psalm 31: 14-15