The Well, Christian Missionary Alliance--June 2022

 June 12, 2022

The Well, a Christian Missionary Alliance church on John Street in Champaign, was my exploratory visit for June, 2022. 

Four years ago a new team came to town to revive the former CMA church which had closed. The Alliance denomination still owns the building. On Sundays, The Well, which has two young pastors, meets in its gym at 4 and another church uses the sanctuary in the morning.

The Well is the most low-key and personal church experience so far. Their entire meeting is directed toward training in discipleship using the discovery Bible study method. The audience is invited to participate at various specific points, to share experiences, scripture observations, and later, prayer requests. 

A couple of worship songs initiated the service, followed by sharing time. Anyone want to relate something they have done for or with their neighbors this week? This did not have to be evangelistic, but just relational. There’s a strong focus on befriending neighbors and being a positive asset to the community. 

The week’s study was Genesis 1:1-2 and 26-31.  Our handout asked, “What does the scripture say about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit? What does the scripture say about people?” After the reading and a minute or two for reflection, participants were invited to share aloud or send observations by text. (I spared them my observation that carnivores are missing from this list of “all the beasts of the earth” given every green plant for food.)

Then, yes, there was a sermon. Daniel had led us so far, but at this point it was Ben’s turn. Pastor Ben Karwoski (Regent Seminary) reminded me of the Vineyard’s irreplaceable Bill Jackson in his easy, knowledgeable presentation. Both of these Genesis passages have high potential for conflicting interpretations, but Karwoski made no mention of creation versus evolution. He focused on God bringing order to chaos, as to the sea, for example. 

The service ended with participant requests and a pastoral prayer. 

It was a very small and friendly group. One of the moms led kids to the nursery; someone joined on Zoom; one family was out sick. We hung around chatting for a while afterwards. Emily, wife of tonight’s pastor, is working on a seminary degree herself, and she will bring the message on Genesis 2 next week.  

City on a Hill Nondenominational Church--May 2022

 May 8, 2022

Up against a hillside in south Peoria sits City on a Hill Church. Steve and I attended a rocking service there which began with an hour of worship. The two-and-a-quarter-hour session did not seem too long.

This congregation, more than fifty people today, has been meeting at four in the afternoon since Covid forced them outside. Once back indoors, they decided to keep the later time anyway.

Pastor Preston was into a new series from the book of Esther: For Such a Time as This. The day’s sermon title was “I Will Not Bow,” an oft repeated refrain of the afternoon. William Preston is a good speaker and no one will fall asleep while he is preaching.

Here’s a follow-up clip of this day’s message from their Facebook page:   . . . when the powers, authorities, and influencers of this world ask you to kneel for them, you must stand and say 'I will not bow.' Why? Because of our identity in the Lord. We are his people and he is our God. As God states in Exodus 20:5a "You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods."

Not bowing to political pressure is a commendable admonition. Preston was so impassioned, I wondered if something specific had prompted the topic. At the short Q&A following his message, we found out. In response to a question from the group, he said more or less that he would continue to affirm that the LGBT lifestyle is wrong even if doing so is labeled a hate crime. He emphasized strongly, however, that the church must be loving, accepting and welcoming to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. Everyone sins and this sin is no worse than any other, he said. All are welcome at the table. Period. However, this pastor cannot in good conscience say that the lifestyle is okay. And he will not submit to pressure to go against his belief. Be it noted though that his sermon was about faithfulness. The message he preached had no condemnation. These comments came up later. 

On our way out, we received many handshakes and welcomes and were invited to return. It was a positive experience.

Chapel of Saint John the Divine--Apr 2022

April 24, 2022

I've read that some disaffected evangelicals have turned to the Episcopal church, so today I visited this one, another grand structure on the UIUC campus.  

On a Sunday morning, street parking near the building was available and free. The front door stood open in welcome. A sign politely suggested masks, and indeed everyone was wearing one.

Sunday morning hosts a 45-minute, no-music service at 8 and a longer “family friendly” one, with singing at ten. Since we’re expecting grandkids today, I opted for the early session. I assume the later service is better attended because there were only a handful of worshipers at 8.

I was greeted when I came in and sat about two-thirds of the way back. Smiling behind his mask, the elaborately robed rector handed me the “leaflet” for today’s service. At eight sharp, he walked up the aisle from the back, preceded by an aid holding a big gold pole. ( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Hey, I’m a born-and-raised-Baptist girl. Surely there's an official word for it.)

The service followed the script word for word through readings, scripture, and prayers, some with audience participation. I gave my full attention and appreciated it. The rector's aid had a lovely voice. The only time we were off script was her prayer which included lifting up individuals (presumably from that congregation), church leaders, and our political representatives all the way up to "Joe" himself. I’m not sure this kind of service, so different from what I’m used to at the Vineyard, could remain meaningful to me every week for years, but today, Second Sunday of Easter, it was very good to participate in.

The sermon was taken from John 20:19—31, our reading. Frightened apostles behind locked doors was a sad rendition of the church immediately post-resurrection. The presence of Jesus is what was needed then and is still needed now for life. Amen. (But no one said Amen.)

The service closed with the eucharist, breaking of bread. Unlike some denominations, believing non-members were invited to the table. Great. Watching my model, a young black woman across the aisle, I rose to get in line and go forward. The rector put a wafer in my outstretched hand. He had also taken wine from a chalice, but the cup was not offered to the people (a Covid precaution, I later learned).

 A few scripted words of post-communion prayer, blessing, and the service was ended. The rector and his aid returned to the back of the room to greet congregants going out.

I felt I had been in the house of the Lord.

First Mennonite Church of C-U--Nov 2021

November 14, 2021

Today I was happy to visit the Mennonites in this medium size sanctuary, simply and lovingly decorated,  with an intimate feel. Everyone wore a mask, and although it was only 40*, windows were open for ventilation. The congregation had met outside until a couple of weeks ago.

In the guest bag I found a full-size, fair-trade dark chocolate bar—Wow!  There was also church and denomination information, 10,000 Villages info and a friendly welcome card handmade by the kids. The handful of children present were called up for their own special story time near the beginning of the service.

Centering chimes and then piano drew us into worship. The congregation sang from a contemporary hymnbook, led by a single guitar player, Raphael, with a strong beautiful voice.  

Today’s message was an interesting video-link interview with Anne G K, former member here and 40-year Bible translator in Burkina Faso. She met us from her office in Africa and shared some of the difficulty of her work. Consider, for example, translating the word holy. Hebrew has something like three words for it, English four, and the native target language over twenty! Anne also shared a story of her fear in 2005 when armed men were firing shots in her street. She missed her flight to Canada. But the plane she’d been scheduled to fly on crashed in Cameroon. Consider the paradox, she encouraged us, of her great fear of the rebels, but her lack of fear of the flight. Anne reported that today, fall 2021, about one third of Burkina Faso is in antigovernment hands.

After a few minutes of meditation, it was time for congregational sharing of prayer needs and thanksgiving. About sixty people were there with another thirty tuned in by internet. As a visitor, I didn’t find the life details of unknown persons that relevant, but of course this sharing had great value for participants. It took maybe ten minutes:  people sick and those recovering, new jobs, woman leaving abusive husband, an anniversary, etc. Apparently, text messages were also coming in to a chat board for those who didn’t want to stand and speak up or those connecting by internet.

Several people struck up conversations with me after the service. The pastor caught me to chat as well and invited me to call anytime. 

I like it that this church is a big supporter of Champaign's 10,000 Villages, and they support Sola Gratia Farm too. For Thanksgiving they’re having a Gratitude Walk at Meadowbrook Park, and there's a gathering to sing around Pastor Deb’s firepit.

Irrelevant note:  FMC is the place where, many years ago, we were invited to a wedding in which we saw the adoring father of the bride crawl onto the stage to discretely (not!) take photos of his daughter's big moment. :-P

Wesley United Methodist Church--Sept 2021

 Sunday, September 19, 2021

I decided to go big for the first of my proposed other-church visits today and went to the Wesley Center at UIUC—their traditional service, not the contemporary one.

The grand Wesley Foundation building has been in continuous operation since 1920 and was modeled after the one at Oxford where John Wesley was educated. Because it's on campus, I parked half a mile away and walked in. The first two church doors I tried were locked, but circling around—it's a really big building—I found an open one at last. (I also noticed a small parking lot in the back—too late.)

The sanctuary is classically dramatic with high ceilings and stained glass. Because of Covid, every second pew was cordoned off and everyone was masked. About a hundred people were spread in the big room. A sweet older woman down the row from me was happy to chat.

Lovely, moving music opened the service, followed by congregational singing of hymns. Spirit of the Living God we sang the first time through with our voices and then in sign language only. Loved this! Passing the peace in sign language was also encouraged.

Preaching today was Rev. Julie Dowler, a dynamic woman in a black t-shirt, who spoke of Mary and Martha in a message entitled Mind Your Own Busyness. The detailed bulletin told me this is third in a series on Soul Rest and that today is the 17th Sunday after Pentecost. 

At the end, most people seemed to exit back toward the parking lot. But Pastor Julie was on the front steps when I came out, offering snacks to any walkers who had come today. (These were in addition to a snack in the guest bag handed out inside. It also contained information about the church, of course. 😁) It was nice to talk with her a few minutes.

Here are a few random pluses picked up from the bulletin. This congregation participates in the CROP walk! They host a "midweek campfire" with gourmet s'mores. Also listed were Friday picnics, ESL class, international coffeehouse on Zoom, "A Queer Space," yoga sessions, two book studies (one a New York Times bestseller), men's Bible study, and more. 

Overall, visiting here was a positive experience and I'd be happy to go back sometime—use the parking lot (!) and try the contemporary service. It was moving to pray the old chorus in sign language and I very much enjoyed the setting and the music.

The peace of Christ be with you!

INTRO to visits with different denominations

Firing up the blog for a look at different denominations 

I've been visiting different kinds of churches, once a month, for a year now. A few friends have read these reports as they come out, but I'm thinking it would make sense to post my observations and impressions here in case anyone else is interested or curious as to what's going on in Champaign-Urbana (mostly) churches. :-]

I'm not really shopping for a new church or denomination, so what's my motive? I was born and raised American Baptist. (Please do not confuse with Southern Baptist, quite different!) I was happily Baptist the first thirty years of my life and greatly respect the ABC to this day. In the early 80s, however, the Vineyard movement reached Indianapolis where we lived. Once I experienced Bill Jackson's teaching and Vineyard worship, I was all in. Even after Jax moved west and we relocated too, the Vineyard has  remained our tribe through the following decades. So from all the variety of Christian expression through different denominations, I had solid knowledge of only these two. Ok, I should include a third, Steve's family church, the Apostolic Christians. I've gotten to know that culture fairly well from many visits and personal interactions. 

Even with knowledge of three, I realized there were multitudes of people in the US worshiping the Christian God, relating to Jesus, in ways I had no experience with or understanding of. How do they worship? What are their priorities? I set myself a project, on a very limited scale, to find out. I decided to visit a different kind of congregation once a month to see what goes on. My purpose is not to evaluate or pass judgement, but only to observe. Of course, my perceptions are colored by beliefs and past experiences.

These are all posted with March 2022 dates, but they were written over the past year and a half. The dates of attendance, starting mid-Covid, are posted in the articles.

~Wesley United Methodist, UIUC 
~First Mennonite, Urbana
~Episcopalian Chapel of St John, UIUC
~City on a Hill Church of Christ, Peoria

~Christian Missionary Alliance, Champaign
~Living Stones Church, Kona, Hawaii
~Church of Christ Scientist, Champaign
~Greek Orthodox, Champaign
~Unitarian Universalist, Urbana
~Church of the Brethren, Urbana
~Apostolic Christian, Washington, IL
~St Thomas Catholic, Philo, IL
~Champaign Church of the Nazarene

~Eastside Church, nondenominational 

Seeing Specialist----not

 SHORT VERSION 

Except for three hours, Steve and I enjoyed our two days in St. Louis.  Unfortunately, we were not able to accomplish the purpose of the trip:  appointment with an osteoporosis specialist.  Someone overlooked the fact that the Washington University's Center for Advanced Medicine has no contract with our particular Medicare plan.  I had made the appointment, received mail from them, filled out their paperwork, and signed up for a MyChart as requested.  In all this, no one noticed a problem until about four hours before the scheduled time.  The call came while Steve and I were hiking the lovely Laumeier Sculpture Park.  Back at the hotel, I spent the next three hours on the phone—much of it on hold—with WU medical's accounting and our insurance.  Nonetheless, they canceled my much-anticipated appointment.  In hope, Steve and I went to the Center, at the correct time, anyway.  Everyone was kind and sympathetic, but we did not get in.  So we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens instead.  Beauty and wonder.

 

 

LONGER VERSION

Yesterday, the long-anticipated, osteoporosis-specialist-appointment day, did not turn out as expected.  We were expecting to get a lot more information about my situation to help me figure out how to respond.  But I was prevented from seeing Dr. M. for the valuable info.

On the way to St. Louis Tuesday morning we stopped and climbed Monk's Mound, biggest of the 80 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.  When it started to rain, we had crackers and cheese in the car overlooking a wetland of egrets.  In the afternoon we wandered the St. Louis Art Museum.  After dinner at Frailey's Grill, we settled into our hotel room and watched Life of Pi.

Wednesday morning we walked the grounds of the Laumeier Sculpture Park—fascinating and fun.  Unfortunately, after about an hour, there was a cell call from Ran, the cheerful young man who had made my appointment two months ago.  Bad news, he said.  Some problem with insurance.  He asked me to send my card and I told him I'd already posted it on the MyChart site, but would send again in an hour or so when we got back to my laptop.  We finished our tour with Ran's assurance that he would figure it out and all would be well.

But it wasn't.  Back in the hotel, I spent the next three hours on the phone with Ran his supervisor, and four different agents from our Medicare Advantage group.  During long stretches on hold, we packed up, checked out and moved from our room to the hotel lobby and then to the waiting room of the specialist at the Center for Advanced Medicine.  Arriving there I was told my appointment had been canceled.  Ay-yi-yiee.  

Clinical Office Supervisor, Jay, did come out to explain the situation.  Last fall when Steve retired we signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan called WellCare.  We had heard that these added plans are sometimes hard to get things approved through.  In this case, WellCare actually did approve, but although Barnes accepts Medicare A&B, it "has no contract with" the additional plans.  

All well and good, but could someone not have figured this out and informed us before the day of my appointment???  I had received mail from Washington University's Center for Advanced Medicine, had filled out their paperwork, and had signed up for a MyChart with them as requested.  Apparently in all of that, no one noticed the issue.  Jay told us that the appointment never should have been made.  Someone in the "pre-arrival team" overlooked that key bit of information.

Jay told us that both she and Dr M were upset about this.  (I had mailed Dr M an introductory letter last week.)  Jay gave us her personal line number and said that if we change insurance, I should contact her first, before making another appointment. 

So, Steve and I left to be wow'd by the Missouri Botanical Garden instead.  The garden did not disappoint!