This Sunday I went to Good Shepherd, the church that is offering its building to the congregation that lost a church last year. The services are still separate, though. I found out that the temporary group mets at 11:30, with just enough time for the Good Shepherd regulars to leave.
Good Shepherd is celebrating its tenth anniversary in October and seems optimistic. Though the bulletin says it needs $2310 weekly to survive and is collecting only $698, the parishioners still gave me a gift bag with a pen, notepad, information about the church, and pumpkin bread. Also, to fundraise for the new hymnals, they're encouraging people to buy one for the church in honor or memory of someone to get a name plate in the hymnal. This sense of ownership just might work, at least for this occasion.
Location: 3800 Roland Ave.
Worship time: 10 a.m.
Spiritual leader: Pastor Amy Sarah Lewis, a younger middle-aged woman with short-shaven dark hair and an avid smile who nonetheless seemed to lean towards the conservative and traditional, studied the Hebrew Bible at Colgate-Roster Divinity School and is currently working on her doctorate.
Congregation: There were 25 people there and six choir members. Four-fifths of the congregation was female. Most were over 60, and 96 percent was Caucasian. Yet, all were very friendly; I was literally greeted and welcomed by every member of the congregation either before the service or during the Sharing of the Peace.
People wore nicer casual clothes, so khakis and a nice shirt would work well.
Interior: Four enormous stained glass windows take up most of the wall space while the pews are arranged in a semi-circle, helping acoustics and general feelings of community. It was a little warm today, but the heat may not have been adjusted yet.
Presentation: The order was a little reversed from what I'm used to. The transitions felt short because the announcements and Sharing of the Peace weren't until after the sermon, though it seemed to work that way as well.
Much of the service was call and response. The only real creative aspect occurred during prayers, when parishioners called out names to be prayed for.
Sermon: The lesson was on the trouble with being just an "Instant Christian" and that people need to make sure they "take a hard right over an easy wrong." Only a little of the history was given. Pastor Amy noted that Mark is one of the most critical of the other disciples and that Peter wanted a steadfast general, not a man who says he's going to die...it's just not that good for morale.
Pastor Amy did throw in a reference to Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego when she was talking about how people get focused on the "I" but didn't really explain it. Based on the congregation, I am not sure how many people understood her allusion. Perhaps that's why she used not wanting to go to the hospital to see a dying friend as her personal example; it was a perfect example for her audience.
Music: The service started out with a song doused in Hebrew words. "El Shaddai" didn't seem to trouble any of the parishioners in either pronunciation or melody. This, like many of the other songs, had more of a minor key feel to it, perhaps because of Lent.
The choir of six, though predominately female, kept tight harmony.
During Lent, the other Methodist church in Hampden on Falls Road is sponsoring midday concerts and food. While some high school groups will be there, a few military brass sets will also brighten the Lenten mood.
Overall atmosphere: I felt very welcomed. Parishioners came to talk to me about random things, not just if I was planning to join the church. This church is very willing to work with other churches in the area and in fact will host a joint service with its sister church, Mt. Vernon Methodist, next week at 10. It will be followed by free pizza.
The church is very pleasant, but getting involved might be challenging; the choir, for instance, meets at 2:30 on Wednesdays. A lot seems to be geared toward the parishioners that are already there instead of trying to get new ones, which may continue to make the church struggle in the future.
