Woodberry Church of the Brethren
If I'm correct, this is the last church in Hampden that I hadn't been to. Hope everyone has enjoyed the blog so far.
Worship time: 11:00 a.m.
Spiritual Leader: Pastor John Weyant, a sweet and cheesy middle-aged man who takes a moment to think how to phrase things but is very enthusiastic.
Congregation: Of the 21 there, most were over 50. There were a couple of parents with young children. While dress tended toward nicer attire, some of the older crowd also wore jeans.
Interior: The church was very cozy. It was simple, wooden pews and mostly regular windows with a gorgeous stained glass above the pulpit to focus attention there. A small divider sectioned off room for an office and Sunday School.
Presentation: Though the bulletin gave the disclaimer "This service is subject to change, under the discretion of the Holy Spirit," there was nothing scary about this church. Everyone who talked had a nice, wry sense of humor. The pastor and leaders talked through the transitions and made the transition from the Sharing of Joys and Concerns time to worship again fairly smoothly. I found that the post-Ravens' loss chattiness that greeted me at the door continued with the members' genuine concern for each other.
What really impressed me was the constant outreach and respect for other denominations. For instance, not only does this church work with local churches to supply the food pantry, but they invited all to Emmanuel's Rock at the Falls Road Methodist church on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a contemporary service. Perhaps this is because this denomination, as one of the parishioners said, is smaller than many, but it will serve them well.
Sermon: The message, "The Model and Model Behavior," focused on humans, like the pottery of the Ming Dynasty, being stamped with the mark of God, making us very valuable indeed. Historical allusions didn't touch on the scripture part of things so much as why people make models at all and that if God is the potter, that he made things that are made to be used. Some of the references felt thrown in instead of meaningful, but at least there was a variety to be found.
Music: The songs were traditional and from a hymnal. The pianist played well, though the acoustics of the church made it hard for all of us to hear the right notes and adjust.
Overall atmosphere: So many people came to talk to me and were receptive to what I was doing. I was even invited out for a free lunch to further talk about the church and the churches in Hampden. Mr. Fred Wilhelm, a distinguished gentleman who seems to have become a bit of a local church historian, helped fill in many of the gaps.
The church does have a website, www.freewebs.com/woodberrycob, but it isn't very kept up. However, the COB is involved with the Christian Fellowship, a group of Hampden churches that gets together the first Thursday of each month at rotating locations to network. In February, COB will host this event. It always begins at 6 p.m. with dinner, which leads to 7 p.m. worship.
Since I believe I have attended all the churches, I will now mostly be posting updates from the Christian Fellowship. Please feel free to contact me at rmschwarz@gmail.com with any questions.
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