WWTBAM Bored

What a great weekend! The weather, unfortunately, was not so hot, but the time spent at church on Saturday and Sunday was wonderful. On Saturday elwing and I were part of a group that was making banners to hang on the sides of our sanctuary as well as preparing the sanctuary for Easter services. There were people polishing silver, putting white cloths on tables, and all sorts of other things. One of my annual tasks is to neuter the Easter lillies - to remove the pollen-bearing parts because a lot of our choir people (and congregants) say that they're allergic to the pollen.

We had two full services on Sunday morning (normally we have two, but the first one is an abbreviated "fast food" version). We start in darkness, then enact the "drama of Easter" - three women in costume come down the center aisle of the church as if approaching the tomb of Jesus. A narrator (me) reads the gospel passage, and there is a young man in a white robe to speak for the angel. Then the women turn and say, "The Lord is risen!", to which the congregation replies, "He is risen indeed!". As each woman turns and says this, the black drapes over the banners, the communion table and the pulipit are removed and the lights are turned on. This is followed by a procession in which children bring in the Easter lillies, followed by standards, the silver communion tableware (a cross, Bible stand, and candle holders), our processional cross, the ministerial staff and the choir, singing. It's truly an amazing site to see, particularly for a Baptist church.

I have marveled for a couple of years now at your church's elaborate services, especially during Christmas and Holy Week/Easter. I belong to a Baptist church (American Baptist), but it's rather small. I gather that your church is large. Is it a Southern Baptist church?

ksbirchtree wrote:I have marveled for a couple of years now at your church's elaborate services, especially during Christmas and Holy Week/Easter. I belong to a Baptist church (American Baptist), but it's rather small. I gather that your church is large. Is it a Southern Baptist church?

Nominally we are Southern Baptist - we still send money (the absolute mininum amount) to the national convention because we have several members who are employed by the Baptist seminary or by the state convention, both of which require that their employees belong to a Southern Baptist church, and a SB church is defined as one that "supports" the national convention by contributing to it. As to whether we are a large church or not, it depends upon where you draw the line. Our membership is around 1000, we average about 250 in our primary worship service (11AM Sunday - but had congregations of 300 for each of the two services on Easter), and about 175 in Bible study. None of those would classify us as "large" in my mind, but YMMV.

Theologically we are on the "moderate" side (some might say "liberal") - we have open communion (unlike some churches in the deep South). We have women serving on our staff - in fact, of the five full-time ministers on staff four of them are women (associate pastor, minister to youth, minister to children and preschoolers, minister of music), and although we have no official policy regarding GLBT people, we have members who are gay and lesbian, and they serve in leadership or teaching positions. Our church is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship - one of the breakaway groups that formed after the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 70s and 80s.

Our services are more liturgical than many Baptist churches, although several of our sister churches also observe the ecclesiastical year (reading from the lectionary, special services for seasons of the Church year, etc.). Growing up in Oklahoma my wife had never heard of Advent or Lent until we came to Kentucky and joined our current church. Our ministers wear robes (in elwing's home church they wore suits).

Our church's Web site might interest you, also - it's http://www.hbclouisville.org. There are photos of our sanctuary (an English Gothic-style) and other information, including, if I may be so bold as to say, a commentary that I write for our teachers to use with the weekly Bible study lesson.

Are the pews really that shade of green?

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:Are the pews really that shade of green?

No, they're a deep brown.

earendel wrote:
Our membership is around 1000, we average about 250 in our primary worship service (11AM Sunday - but had congregations of 300 for each of the two services on Easter), and about 175 in Bible study. None of those would classify us as "large" in my mind, but YMMV.

Yes, I would call 1000 large, as our church is only about 150, with 75-80 on Sunday morning. We've just come through a difficult period with a senior pastor that was not a good fit for the congregation. Our new pastor is wonderful so hopefully we will start a period of growth.

Thanks for the information ..

The other Christy