The other night, I went to Via Christus Community Church (http://viachristus.org/) in Yorkville, IL. Unlike other places I’ve been to, this was a new church– an offshoot of another, larger one– that is still in its beginning stages. In fact, the meeting took place in the pastor’s living room.
While the number of people was only around 20, they were all eager to see each other. Many were new. Many had only known each other for a couple weeks. But they were quickly united under their belief in Christ.
From what I heard, the reason this Church had begun was twofold: First, Yorkville is a rapidly growing town and people were eager to find a church they connected with. Secondly, Pastor Mike and his former church associates had a type of falling out due to differing philosophies (akin to conservative vs. liberal theologies). I guess Pastor Mike was too progressive. Many of the people at Mike’s place that night were those who followed him from his previous church. This worked out personally, since I was able to see a truly (what I would consider) liberal church. There was no “everyone else is wrong” atmosphere. That’s not to say everyone felt that all religions were right– the gatherers did believe Christ was the one true way to God. But they managed to convey this without putting all other faiths down, and I loved to see that.
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Tonight was the “Wednesday Prayer Meeting” at Moody Church, which is connected with the Moody Bible Institute and all other things Moody in Chicago. It is non-denominational and Christian.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more relieved to be an Atheist.
First, some background. I’ve said before that I don’t think people should pray for petty, materialistic things; if you’re praying, pray for the “right” reasons (I think you can use common sense to figure out what I mean by that).
Also, please understand that I don’t think praying for someone random helps. If you are going through a stressful time, prayer can definitely calm you down (if you are a believer). If people are sick and they hear that they are being prayed for, I do think this can help them feel better. It relaxes their bodies and they feel better, emotionally and physically. But if I’m told to pray for Bob in Alaska, and Bob doesn’t know this, I don’t think that does anything. In fact, studies have shown the positive effects of prayer in the first two cases. But never in the latter case. (If you’d like to argue this point, I’ll be posting a thread on my blog at www.ebayatheist.blogspot.com about it. Go there.)
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Salem Baptist Church is a large concert-venue-type auditorium on the South side of Chicago. It is also the (almost-) all-black megachurch headed by Illinois State Senator James Meeks (D), who is also vice president of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow-PUSH coalition. Remember when I thought I was slightly out of place at the all-white churches…? Well, I clearly underestimated how much I stand out when I’m the only non-[fill in your church's race here] in the building. It felt much stranger here to be brown. Anyway, I thought this might happen. So I brought along my girlfriend. Who is white. Good times.
By the way, I know there are historic reasons for black churches, but why do churches segregate themselves? Both believe that faith in Christ is essential, but to divide the churches by race says to me that everyone bases how/where they worship on something bigger than Christ. Which seems paradoxical. (Christ unites us all! But race… that separates how we worship Jesus.)
When we walked in for the 10:00 am service, the choir was singing (It was massive). The band was playing. I think there was a even a church Color Guard that was dancing with flags. This seemed like a nice way to begin Sunday. At the risk of sounding like a Richard Pryor bit, the White churches had bands with a few singers and instrumentalists, and it was welcoming to hear it, but this was more intense. So many singers. And they were loud. The White churches sang and clapped with their songs. The Black churches were jumping up and down, throwing hands in the air and waving them, and turning around in their seats. Like I said… more intense. And this was fun to watch. Until my watch said 10:45 am and they still hadn’t stopped singing. That was annoying. Throughout the singing, I was wondering why so many people were walking in late. (The service started at 10:00! Why are you looking for a seat at 10:30?) Now, I know why. The “real” service didn’t begin until much later. But I wondered: Is this service about singing or sermon?
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