We attended a nearby evangelical church while traveling , as we often do. I loved the music - they were doing carols that they had played with the arrangements with a little, so that they weren't straight from the Old Blue Hymnal, but they weren't unrecognisable, either. Very nice people afterwards. I contrast this with the previous night's Classical Christmas concert at Emmanuel Church, which was nearly all sacred music done very, very well. But introducing the program, the director informed us that the purpose of the music was to celebrate "the community," and later "the partnership between Newport Classical and Emmanuel Church." It reminded me of a news story as recently as a year ago about Jimmy Carter* teaching a Sunday School class for older children, leading a discussion about how Donald Trump wasn't very Christian or American. My eldest, who also teaches older children noted "In our class we talked about Jesus." Carter has done this often enough in churches that frankly, I have to wonder who his god is at this point.
At Newport Community Church I liked the sermon well enough, talking about Mary going to visit Elizabeth, and what their words say about both of their faith and their character. But then there was a turn near the end which I had not expected and then internally facepalmed over that. It was the transition to the salvation message, which I absolutely should have seen coming. We don't have it every week in our church and related churches, but it does occur. It is less rote than what I remember from the sermons my sons' Christian (Baptist) schools would present - in fact I am sometimes impressed at the invisibility with which we sometimes find ourselves in what used to be called an altar call. No altar is involved now. We don't have people coming forward in front of the eyes of everyone. We see them coming forward at a later point, when baptism is involved. I think this would frustrate those who come from traditions where they want to see the visible results - hands quietly raised around the congregation during a prayer with closed eyes at minimum. We're less worried about that, and it seems to work fine. We promote quiet internal conversions that get revealed later. Or something. But there is still that echo of the Four Spiritual Laws, almost under the radar.
You've got to check the boxes, too. "It's by faith not by works." Did that come up in the previous part of the service in any context? Well, it's got to be there now. You never can tell when some stereotypical Catholic might come in and spread that false doctrine, you know? Be ever on guard.
I recall from older days that one got used to it, as if it were part of some weekly liturgy, so that whatever the service and the sermon had been designed around and aiming toward, all of a sudden you were whiplashed in the end into the come-to-Jesus call. It's like the declaration that the Decathlon is the best test of athleticism, so the end of every sporting event has to switch over to the Decathlon for it's final ten minutes, no matter what has gone before. Halfway through the fourth quarter, or the ninth inning, or the final hole, everyon is suddenly grabbing a vaulting pole or running some hurdles.
This church was not much like that, really. They were fine. The last ten minutes were pretty much in keeping with the previous thirty. It's just at that point I've usually pretty much had it anyway, as each new sentence is pushing out a previous one in our memories, and I start sending thought commands to the preacher. You're done. You're done. You're done, done, done. Wrap it up...
*I have some earlier posts about Carter, mostly on this theme of him declaring that liberal pieties are what the Gospel really is. I don't think I will bring any forward for a repost, though I may at some later date. Here is the first one about him, from 2006, Jimmy "Birdhouse" Carter.
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