Affiliation: Usually: Evangelical Lutheran; This day: Ecumenical
Why We Picked This One: 6 Pastors - One Low Price!
Sermon: We Have Enough
First Church With: Tag-Team Preaching
Rundown: "Ecumenical" essentially means "a bunch of churches being friendly and working together." I didn't know that - so I'll fill you in, in case you didn't either.
I admit not knowing the answer to the following question, and I also admit that I should go find the answer instead of simply admitting I don't know it, but: Do Christians think other Christians are "wrong"? I touched on this a little bit in the last post, but do Presbyterians think Lutherans have some fundamental flaw that keeps them from properly following the Lord? Do Methodists think Catholics are incorrect in their assumptions? Or is everyone just going down the correct path a little differently? Even though I don't like pickle and sauerkraut sandwiches, I wouldn't necessarily think you're totally messing up the entire dining experience if you had one. If, however, you insisted that restaurants were money-hungry machines and didn't deserve your money and you always left without paying, I would think you were flat out wrong, though. Where do different Christians fall on this spectrum?
If there are only minor differences, and all Christians are getting into heaven, is it really worth it to split off into a billion different division of Christianity? And if my religion is right, and yours is wrong, what value does one get from holding an ecumenical service, with different religions represented? Should you share your "correct" teachings while subjecting some of your congregation to something that is "wrong"?
Either way, it was kind of neat to see a service run by some six different pastors from six different churches. As you'd expect, some were very good, and some were not.
The real story here, though, was how I was hit by the sermon. When a girl breaks up with you, you know how every song on the radio for the next six months seems to relate directly to you? You know how when your mom's in the hospital, suddenly every cloud formation and movie quote and new person you meet somehow reminds you of time that you'd spent together?
This sermon was (sort of) like that.
I'd been feeling very selfish lately. I don't really know how I'd been projecting to others, but I'd been feeling grumpy and withdrawn and un-Brian. And the pastor's sermon told a touching story of some refugees who'd come over from a country where this family had four walls and a roof - but not much else. The family kept insisting, "We didn't have much. But we had enough."
It was a sermon that this pastor would have given even if I wasn't sitting in that Church that evening. He still would have said those same words - even if I couldn't've heard them. But, because of the situation I was in in my life at that time - and it wasn't, by any means, a terribly difficult time in my life or anything - the sermon spoke to me. I was able to listen to the pastor preach, pull some words of wisdom from him, and make some minor tweaks in my life to make me a better person.
I think that people who look forward to church are probably looking forward to moments like this.
Oh. And they had a wicked awesome dessert platter after the service.
Address: 1453 Staley Rd., Grand Island, NY
Website: sttimothygrandisland.org
Attendees: ~50
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