St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Well, Anthony and Bernadette had behaved very well on the trip to Ephrata Cloister, so I thought they would be fine in a church service. The closest church to their apartment is St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church, so it was off to another Lutheran service. (My first post on a visit to an ELCA church, with notes on their history, is here.) My notes on this service are briefer than for the others, because going to a new church with children is a lot more work than going alone. To say the least, my attention was divided. Bernadette had developed a cough overnight, and I stopped by a drugstore before church to pick up children’s cough medicine. She refused to take it, claiming that her cough had gone away, and indeed it seemed that it had. So we went in.
The congregation at St. Matthew worships in an attractive, smallish building in a residential neighborhood. They have two morning services (8:15 and 11:00 – we attended the second service). We enter and find a pew (these pews are almost tiny, probably because the room is so narrow; I think you might seat 5-6 people in each pew). I look around. The sanctuary is pleasingly plain; there is a white, gently curved ceiling, and clear windows with sheer white curtains. A wooden cross on the sanctuary wall has gilt letters (IHS) in the center. Gold wall sconces with white candles line the walls. Very pretty. I think the sanctuary would seat about 150, and I estimated that there are about 50 people present for this service. One thing is a little unusual; there is an American flag over the entrance, so everyone enters under that banner. After the prelude and the prayers of Confession and Forgiveness, there is a time for announcements.
At this point an older gentleman stands up and notes that the financial situation is rather poor – so poor, in fact, that if things continue as they have been, the church might not be able to continue. This certainly seems like the gloomiest announcement I have heard so far in this project. I can see in the bulletin that the church is about $19,000 behind budget for the year so far, but I have no way of knowing if that is a huge percentage of the annual budget, or something more manageable.
The pastor today is the Rev. Dr. Martha Sheaffer, who is supplying for the church’s regular pastor. She speaks unmiked (amplification is not needed in this small sanctuary). She begins her sermon in the pulpit, but soon walks down to stand before the front pews. The sermon is short (about 8 minutes long), and is about the dangers of complacency. Her points are fine, but one of the main things I notice is the age of her illustrations, which are taken from the old Red Skelton and Carol Burnett television shows. I’m pretty old, and I barely recall those shows. She mentions Clem Kadiddlehopper, who is one of the very earliest TV characters I remember.
Unfortunately, during the sermon Bernadette’s cough returns, rather theatrically. In fact, she seems to have developed a method of coughing accusingly, looking at me with large, sad eyes as though the cough is somehow my fault.
Then another hymn, the recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, prayers, and the sharing of the peace. This congregation does the sharing very vigorously; almost everyone in the room shakes hands with us. The kids are delighted.
There’s an offering, more prayers, and then communion. An usher comes up the center aisle to indicate which row should go forward. I indicate to him that we are not going forward, and he tries to convince me to go forward. I know that he is trying to be welcoming, but there is no way I am going to walk to the front of a strange church with a coughing 4-year-old and an 11-year-old who is prone to loud stage whispers. So after a brief interlude of mutual smiling and nodding and shaking our heads, he moves ahead to the next row.
The service ends soon after communion, and several people say hello to me and to the kids on our way out. It’s a friendly little group, and I’m a little worried about their prospects.
Later, I check the Internet; this church doesn’t seem to have a website.
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