Spiritual Makeover

Trevor and I have been having a lot of problems with our current church of late, which is a comparatively moderate evangelical church he's been going to since he was like eight years old. I have never been much for evangelism, but I wanted to be with Trevor and some other friends and family who go there, and after my parents converted from Catholicism to Episcopalianism, I wasn't quite sure where I stood on the Christianity scale.

Things were fine at the evangelical church, but after a while the underlying politics began to bother us. It was obvious that most of the congregation were conservative. The fact that the pastor is from Texas did not help that: he is very much a down home Texan Christian with his high school sweetheart as his housewife and two frighteningly timid and obedient children. But that's his choice and if that works for him, fine. He was adamant that politics should not be brought into church: he confronted Trevor for wearing a shirt that said "Who Governs the Government?" on it and pointed him to a Bible passage that tells us not to question our leaders because God puts them in power. Trevor was not happy, but he stopped wearing the shirt. This man believes that the Iraq War is God's will.

After all of that, and the fact that members of my Uncle's family (who also go to that church) told my sister that she was a sinner because she's a lesbian, and all of the blatant conservatism, prejudice, and unwillingness to question the status quo, we were still putting up with this church.

And then things got personal. Trevor drums for the Worship Team, which provides music for the service. He has been doing this for years, and not once has his opinion been taken seriously regarding what type of music they should play, when they should practice, etc. They held a big meeting about where the Team was going, and basically it was a big "Trevor isn't a team player" bitchfest. In addition, the Pastor pulled Trevor aside and expressed his concerns about the fact that Trevor and I are living together and not married. Trevor politely brushed them off, though he was angry. Apparently Trevor's a "role model" in the church, and "the younger young adults look up to him," so he can't be seen to be living in sin.

This put us on our guard, but again, we weren't sure we would leave the church over it. And then my Uncle confronted Trevor over the same thing, though his concern was more personal and less holier-than-thou. Still, it was frustrating. He wants us to get married as soon as possible! Trevor assured him that we intend to get married, but when we're ready, not when someone else says we should be.

And the sermons are boring and no one talks about anything real or does anything in the community or allows for anything to not have an absolute predefined Biblical answer.

So we went to St. John's on Sunday, which is an Episcopal church up the street from our apartment. What a difference! Like night and day. The building itself is beautiful, they had Camp Quiote (a traveling homeless camp) in their parking lot temporarily, the service (music included) was pleasant and everyone seemed very nice. Trevor had some trouble with all of the ceremony and recitation left over from Catholicism, but it wasn't taken nearly so seriously as at a Catholic church.

The best part, though, was the sermon. It was like God had planned for Trevor to be there on that day and for that reading to come up in the calendar and that sermon to be preached to us. It was about questioning authority. The Pastor at our old church told us not to question authority because it is put in place by God. The man who delivered this sermon said that there are three types of authority: intrinsic, gifted, and usurped. For example, God has intrinsic authority: he has authority because he is God. He gifts Jesus with all of his authority. Jesus' authority is also therefore legitimate. But the Pharisees' authority is usurped. It is perfectly reasonable to question usurped authority (including that of Politicians and other earthly authoritators).

Needless to say, Trevor was won over, and I was ecstatic. We are now thinking of moving to St. John's permanently as soon as Trevor can fairly step down from the Worship Team. We're also thinking of writing to the Sermonizer and thanking him. So it was quite the eventful Sunday!