We attend Christ Church on Long Furlong, and like most Christ Churches it's fairly evangelical. Evangelicals won't deal with anyone below the boss's son.
Just down the road from us, though, is St Michael's, which is technically Anglican but which I was put off many years ago by excessive Highness. The high church types have no difficulty in dealing with the senior management team and St Mike is about as senior as you get without actually being a deity.
But I have matured a little in my own tastes and we've just got back from the 6.30 evening service. The two of us swelled the congregation by approximately a third. We listened to readings, we sang a hymn, we sat in pews designed by a secret cabal of chiropractors to boost their trade. All interspersed by periods of silence.
The church was utterly peaceful and full of light. Birds sang outside. All was well with the world.
St Michael's will never have a teenage band member treating the congregation to his indie version of "If I were a butterfly", as ours did this morning. It loses nothing by this fact. In the great body of Christ, Long Furlong is arms or legs - active, visible bits that go out and do things - and St Mike's is the secret, hidden organs that you rarely see but which are just as important.
Long live denominations.
Well, I'm all in favour of variety, but also unity in the body of Christ. Tricky to get the balance right sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of that Butterfly song though, I'll bet it was interesting!
I go to an Evangelical church, and it's boring. Usually. I feel bad for saying it, but it is.