I went to church this morning. A big, welcoming, friendly, music-playing, hip-swaying, hands-on laying church. You just don't realize how uptight you are until you're in a crowd of Christians feeling the spirit. And in Hawaii, the church is filled with Portuguese, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Black, White, Hapa parishioners and more.
The service starts out with a rock-star-like concert on the stage. I even work with one of the singers during our day jobs. The singers harmonize and clap and the words to the songs are on the screen, scrolling down. Hands are raised, eyes are closed, people are feeling it! And I'm like Elaine from Seinfeld, out of tune, can't follow the beat - white girls really can't dance! I wonder if this is how Anne Lamott ever felt? I'm not as bad as my husband who whispers to me: "I'm like Milli Vanilli - I lip sync only!" Great.
The church helps others in big and little ways. They are underwriting an "Operation Life Benefit Concert!" where all of the money raised goes to provide aid and support for those affected by the recent earthquakes and tsunamis and typhoons in the Pacific. And their Thanksgiving outreach brings Thanksgiving dinners to those experiencing financial difficulty, homelessness and those transitioning from prison, drugs and alcohol and also to the elderly.
The sermon today is given by the main pastor, the big Kahuna. He's authentic, quick, to the point, a real preacher. The theme today is on Satan and how it's his job to make our lives less than they could be, to convince us not to come to church and especially not to pray. To convince us of poverty rather than abundance. To focus on the world, not on God. It's a powerful message. The pastor is praying on our behalf, interceding on our behalf BUT we have to make effort on our own behalf, of course. I have no doubt Satan has had a field day with my life.
Toward the end of his sermon the pastor calls up everybody to the front of the church who are heavy-hearted, in pain, need prayer. Of course, that would be everybody. I want to go up but I don't know what I'd be getting myself into so I stay where I am even though a couple of times he looks pointedly at my husband and I and talks of "pride". Oh, I have no doubt pride is involved, but so is caution. I'm an uptight white chick. I need to see what I'm getting myself into first.
Quite a few members make it down front, some already crying. The pastor calls out his lay pastors to pray and lay hands on these parishoners. People around us start speaking in tongues, the Pastor is praying and praying with passion and the lay pastors start laying on hands and praying on each person. And people start to drop. A pastor behind them eases them to the ground; some look unconscious, others are crying. A third member comes by and gently lays a blue sheet on them and steps over them and moves to the next fainting member. The energy in that church is so thick I feel it vibrating in my chest and in the tears running down my face. The woman next to my husband is speaking in tongues and he elbows me but I hear her, I hear her.
I was raised a Roman Catholic. I then joined a zen cult and left it after a few years. Then I attended a Lutheran church when my son was young. Next I converted to Judaism and then left Judaism. Back to the Lutheran church and then nothing. All of those experiences were quieter, uptighter, private. Nothing like this big, bouncy, loud, swaying congregation. If you're gonna do it at all, why not do it big?
This will take some getting used to.
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Rated.
R~
I know that religion works, not because of any spurious spiritual connection with one or more supreme beings, but because the practitioners make good use of well-known psycho-hypnotic techniques to create the desired effects in their flocks. Nothing amuses me more than faith healers putting people into trances and telling them they are healed because, even when it works, and it sometimes does, it works because of the psychological manipulation not divine intervention.
If you want to test for the legitimacy of a spiritual community, look for an impoverished one that doesn't ask for money, one where they collect no money, distribute no money (because they ALWAYS distribute less than they collect), where the leaders don't get paid, don't fleece the sheep, and don't screw them, don't play hypnotic tricks, but still get the desired effects.
There are such places, but I won't name them because, well, because we're happy enough with the people we know and don't want to get to know a whole lot more who have come for the wrong reasons.
I would love to hear more about your spiritual journey.
Rated.
Isn't that a complicated way of saying, 'if it feels good; do it'?
I like the old time religion thing, I like African American spiritual religion. This sounds kind of fun. At least they are alive.
Write about the Zen cult, or tell me about it. I do meditation, I have for decades. Do you still meditate?
rated, befriended, and commented upon--twice.
Now Jack was a religious man who once considered a life as a god-fearing minister. Anyway, he was driving slowly down Main Street with all windows rolled down when he heard lively music and singing bursting through the open doors of a small church along the road.
He parked the car and tentatively entered the building.
He was the only white person there.
He told me he'd never seen such a sight - people singing their hearts out, people dancing, people laughing joyously without restraint, people shedding buckets of tears.
He told me that the feeling was electric and every inch of his skin tingled .
He told me that this was the only time he felt gods presence in a church.
( Oh what I wanted to say was this: Your post was wonderful- just delicious - much thanks)
The speaking in tongues thing can be a turn-off; I know my husband is uncomfortable with it, but I find it sincere and unoffensive. You can get used to it pretty quickly because after all, you're having your own experience with God, you don't need to be worrying about your neighbor.
I'll see if I can't come up with an interesting blog on my Zen days.
I'll pray that you find peace and comfort.
I kinda think all that fainting and crying and crap is somewhat demonic energy. I don't actually believe in demons or anything, but it strikes me as being at least as much 'demonic' as 'holy' - energy right outta control.
Like Gwendolyn, I was raised (for my first 7 or 8 years) in one of them churches and it was entertaining...but wouldn't step foot in one today.
When the pastor pointed to the boss's wife, she got up and walked to the stage. Their seven year old son said, in a voice that carried throughout the church, "Daddy, don't let him turn Mommy into a chicken!"
-R-
I also think it is important that both you and your husband feel comfortable in the same church setting.
And I think that there is some church out there for just about every type of worship experience people want to have. But there is a lot more than just the worship experience you need to explore, including the missions work you mention, social activities, Bible study opportunities, etc.
Your post did a very good job of giving us a feeling of what you experienced and how you felt about it. Good writing.
Monte
there is not going to be discussions of nicea here, this is about real life issues today and, frankly, we see movement, even in these confines, back to the polynesian religion.
hard yea wen you nevah study hula since baby luau?
Aloha No
If you've ever watched the shameless Benny Hinn on TV you get the impression that a lot of it is fake, and yet from my experience in pentecostal churches I'm also convinced that much of it is real and has to do with spiritual energy being transferred from one person to another.
Alas, I'm also too uptight - I intellectualize and analyze everything - to participate in this.
And while Christian types no doubt believe this is a manefestation of their particular god, something almost exactly the same happens in Hinduism. Some gurus do something called "Shaktipat" which involves striking a person - sometimes with the hand or a feather or something else - sometimes soft, sometimes hard or multiple times - usually in the forehead - in order to impart an altered state of consciousness.
And the descriptions that I've heard of the end result to both of these things: being slain in the spirit and Shaktipat - are nearly identical - cosmic consciousness where one feels totally at peace with God/Universe.
So, it seems clear to me that even if the person imparting the spiritual effect is oblivious to the true nature of it - what is really happening is that a spiritual power of sorts is being harnessed by one person and transferred to another.
Looking forward to your next post.
Rated.