I park in the large lot behind the building, walk around to the front, and enter by way of a cloister walk, where a plant sale is being held. Inside the doors, I see tables with coffee and snacks, but it is close to the 11:00 start time, so I figure I will socialize after the service. An usher hands me the bulletin and I find a seat.
The sanctuary is very nice. High ceilings, white walls, tall clear glass windows, somewhat austere – just the kind of sanctuary I like. I had expected the service to be full, since the church is engaged in such a large building project, but there are only about 150 or so people in the pews, which can easily accommodate more than twice that number. Perhaps more people show up at the other three services.
Several people process up the aisle at the start of the service, and take seats in the front. A man in a white robe and a stole of many colors stands up and greets us: “Good morning. It is a delight to welcome you to worship here this morning.”
There are brief announcements. This is where I make my first mistake. In the bulletin, at this part of the service you are asked to sign the Friendship Folder and pass it to the person next to you. Since I didn’t read that part of the bulletin, and since no one sat next to me, once again I have failed to sign in as a visitor (although I didn’t realize this till much later).
A bell choir, in the rear balcony, plays. The first hymn is “In Christ There is No East or West.” The singing is typical of what happens when a smallish congregation is scattered throughout a too-large space. No one wants his or her voice to stand out, so everyone sings very quietly.
The choir is excellent. There are about 25-30 members, accompanied by piano and flute. Next comes the Mission Moment. A woman thanks everyone for supporting The Robin’s Nest, an organization that works with children in Camden. Haddonfield, an obviously upper middle class community, sits only seven or so miles from Camden, a city ranked as the country’s most dangerous city in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 it was ranked America’s poorest city. About a third of its residents live below the poverty line. I’m guessing that I’ll find mission work in Camden at lots of the churches I visit over the next year.
The sermon is delivered by the Associate Pastor, Diane Pacione. She wears a white robe and a white stole embroidered with very colorful butterflies. She has a good, clear speaking voice, and seems quite comfortable speaking to us. This is the fourth time she has delivered this sermon in the last twelve hours, and she seems to be still interested in it!
The title of the sermon is “You Are Invited.” She begins with a story about a Chinese woman who carries water from a stream every day, in two pots on a stick balanced across her shoulders. One of the pots is cracked. This cracked pot feels very bad about being leaky, and one day it apologizes to the woman for being defective. However, the woman replies that she actually likes the leakiness, because she has planted flowers along one side of the path, and the leaky pot waters the flowers as she returns from the stream. There are no flowers on the other side of the path. The moral of the story is that God uses our imperfections, and likes us just the way we are. The application is to the invitation to the Lord’s table – God invites everyone. In fact, there are no such things as imperfections, just differences, because God created us, and everything he created is good.
The pastor stresses and restresses inclusivity, and tells us that we should not exclude anyone from church, or from the Lord’s table.This puzzles me. Who is being kept out of church, or forbidden to participate in Communion? Surely it cannot be the case that this church has a policy against letting imperfect people take Communion, and she is trying to get them to rethink their position? The pastor never mentions anyone specifically. I really need for her to put this argument into some kind of context. Is she criticizing denominations that have closed communion (closed communion is the practice of allowing only members of your own group to participate in the Lord’s supper). Lots of denominations do that.
But if her quarrel is with those denominations, it would be helpful if she would just say so. Most preachers are hesitant to criticize other denominations, and good preachers are always respectful of the beliefs of other denominations, even when they disagree – but it can be done. On the other hand, maybe there is some argument about closed communion going on in the Methodist church as a whole, or in this particular congregation? Perhaps her stress on inclusivity has something to do with the controversies about gay and lesbian parishioners that are swirling around most churches these days – but she never mentions this issue, so that is probably not what she has in mind. And if she did have that in mind, surely she didn’t mean to compare gay people to cracked pots? Context would be handy here.
As it turned out, over the next year the issue of closed communion became one of the major issues in my church visiting scheme. I tried to honor each denomination’s beliefs on the subject, and not take communion in places where it wasn’t appropriate. So in many ways the subject of this sermon was very relevant to my year of visiting churches. I just didn’t quite understand why she was so earnestly entreating all these nice Methodists to let everyone come to the Lord’s table, when so far as I knew they weren’t forbidding anyone.
After the sermon and prayers, the offering is taken. Suddenly I realize that I have no money in my wallet – not a cent. Another mistake! I don’t feel too bad about this one, though. I am quite comfortable with putting nothing into the offering plate, since I the serious money comes from members, and money from visitors is just a tiny unexpected bonus.
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