Tag Archives: Communion

ChurchSurfer @ River City Church: Art, Worship, and a Punch in the Gut

Church Experience #40 – October 23, 2011

River City Church – Chattanooga, TN

Google It

The end of the month of October is upon us, which means there are only two more months left in 2011.  Each time I sit down to write a new blog article now, I think about how many churches I have visited this year (forty!) and how few I have left to visit.  Knowing that I only have ten church visits remaining (yes, I realize that looking at the calendar my fiftieth church will actually be on 1/1/12, so technically I will not visit fifty churches in 2011) makes each decision on where to go more difficult.  My desire is to experience something unique, something special, something completely “of God” each week, which means that just like every other decision I make in life, I must truly seek His guidance and trust in His direction.  I am already thinking about all the writing I will have on my plate after all fifty of my blog articles have been completed…there are a ton of reflections, lessons learned, and discoveries made that I can share (if anyone is interested) which will certainly keep me busy for an unknown portion of 2012.  But without looking too far into the future, I still have an immediate task at hand…church visit number forty.  While searching for a church to visit this week I used Google to do some online browsing.  This is something that I have (surprisingly) done very few times this year, and instead I have usually selected churches by word of mouth, personal invitation, or drive-by.  Google search is, however, a relevant tool that most of us use for finding pretty much anything in today’s world, so I would feel remiss if I did not use it for discovering potential churches to visit.  While browsing search results looking for churches that I had never heard of, I came across the website for River City Church and was immediately intrigued.  It wasn’t that the website was something spectacular (not to pick on them, but there is actually a ginormous blank white space dominating the visible part of their home page), but what grabbed my attention was the place where the church meets…Mosaic Arts Venue.  I work on Market Street in downtown Chattanooga, so I spend a lot of time down there and for me Mosaic is one of those businesses that I always see and am always curious about but never go in the door to find out what is inside.  So I decided to go to River City Church and find out what it and Mosaic, were all about.

ChurchSurfer @ Saint Martin of Tours Episcopal Church: All Dogs Go To Heaven?

Church Experience #38 – October 2, 2011

Saint Martin of Tours Episcopal Church – Chattanooga, TN

Bring Out Yer Pets

For this week’s ChurchSurfer visit I took part in a tradition that I never knew existed, probably because I’m not Catholic and I had never been to an Episcopal church before this year.  The tradition I am referring to is the “pet blessing service” that is part of the feast of St. Francis of Assisi that is celebrated by the Catholic church on October 4.  Other denominations, including the Episcopal church, have also adopted the pet blessing service, and if you do a Google search for it you get a ton of results about these services that are held by local churches.  While driving down East Brainerd road last week, my wife Laura and I saw the sign at Saint Martin of Tours Episcopal Church, which spelled out in removable block lettering “ST FRANCIS PET BLESSING – 10 AM WORSHIP – PEOPLE / PETS INVITED”.  Cool!  I had no clue these existed, but I have a nine-year-old dog named Larry (named after my favorite character from the “3 Stooges“) who could probably use a blessing or two.  So we both agreed that we would bring Larry to his very first church service and our first pet blessing service.  We did not really know what to expect (Laura’s first comment was “they allow dogs inside church?”, like there is some kind of Biblical decree forbidding it), but we were excited to see what it was all about, so here’s how it went…

The Great Outdoors 

ChurchSurfer @ Trinity Lutheran Church: Seeking The Next Generation

Church Experience #17 – May 1, 2011

Trinity Lutheran Church, Hixson, TN

Unnecessary Reminder

Laura and I had planned on visiting a different church this week, but due to the loss of power at that church from the storms that passed through the area, we had to find an alternative.  I live in Hixson, and drive by the intersection of Hixson Pike and Highway 153 pretty much on a daily basis.  Elevated just above this intersection sits Trinity Lutheran Church, calmly peering down on the flurry of activity that consumes the surrounding roads, restaurants, and stores.  I had never attended a Lutheran service before, so I thought this would be an ideal time to experience a new denomination without having to wander too far from home.  We pulled up the church driveway and parked, noticing a large tree laying on its side with its massive root ball facing the parking lot…as if we needed another reminder of the recent weather related devastation that had hit our area in the previous days.  Walking by the downed tree, I squeezed Laura’s hand and refused the urge to go over and get a closer look, doing my best to  refocus my attention to this week’s church experience. (I have included some additional post-storm thoughts after the end of this blog article)

The Coffee Room Incident

Trinity Lutheran Church
Trinity Lutheran Church

ChurchSurfer @ St. Jude Catholic Church: The Experience Was The Experience

Church Experience #16 – April 24, 2011 – Easter Sunday

St. Jude Catholic Church

A Personal Challenge

First of all, let me take a moment and acknowledge and thank my Lord God for how much He has blessed me this year.  I’m amazed at how much increase God gives to your faith, wisdom, and love, when you find new ways to serve Him and dedicate more of your time and focus to His Word.  The ChurchSurfer project has already brought major blessings to my spiritual walk, and whether or not people read or like this blog, the benefits of holding myself to the commitment of visiting 50 different churches this year are mind-blowing.  God is good, all the time, amen.  So for Easter this year I decided to challenge myself a little bit by skipping (or should I say hopping?) the Easter church service that is so meaningful to us as (Protestant) Christians, and instead opt for a Catholic church service.  Why is this challenging?  Because going into the experience, I already know that as a non-Catholic I am not welcome to take Holy Communion at a Catholic church, nor do I agree with most of their doctrinal beliefs, which makes it particularly hard on such a significant day as Easter.  So why even go to a Catholic church?  Because I also know that like all Christian sects and denominations, there are true believers with a heart for Jesus inside the Catholic faith.  What will be the big challenge?  Trying to remain focused on the point of my blog, which is “Experiencing God through People”, and not falling into a rant session on the differences in doctrinal beliefs, which is so tempting with a subject matter that is at the core of your very being.  What will be the outcome?  Let’s find out (and I’m more than a little nervous)…