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| - I attended this church regularly for a few months in what I think was the year 2003.
The church had a rich, traditional liturgy that was spiritually moving. Good old hymns were sung and a number of people in the congregation knew how to sing in harmony and sang well. Their pastor at the time was a thought-provoking man who gave accessible but deep sermons that always got me thinking about my life and about important religious issues. However, I got the feeling that others in the congregation did not view the pastor and his sermons in such a positive light. I found at the church coffee hour that people would avoid talking about the sermons; in fact, they'd avoid talking in general...this wasn't the most friendly place.
I left this church primarily because they kicked the pastor out. Why did they kick him out? Because a large number of people in the congregation, especially some of the older males, were very homophobic. Although the pastor was hardly left-wing and rarely made up-front comments about homosexuality, people knew his views and stances and I believe that he was kicked out solely for the fact that he believed in being more accepting of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in the church.
I have one additional complaint about this church that is rather serious. This church, like many, has been struggling to attract younger members, people such as myself. They have put a lot of energy and effort into having meetings and discussions to talk about what could be done to attract more young people. Not once was I ever included, formally or informally, in these discussions, in spite of the fact that I was supposedly part of the demographic that was in need of being drawn in. Rather, a bunch of older people sat behind closed doors and guessed about what "young people want".
The result? The watering down of the liturgy...the introduction of powerpoint slides during the sermon. The introduction of an occasional dumbed-down song without harmony and with scrolling lyrics and a bobbing ball on the powerpoint. Not only did this sort of thing alienate some of the older members, but it did nothing to attract younger people.
What do people like me want? We want a church that is relevant to our lives: modern, progressive, without dogma. But with spiritual depth--and not overly simplistic. This means, a complex liturgy--not the dumbed down, powerpoint liturgies that dominate most fundamentalist churches. There's a reason I chose to visit and attend a Lutheran church in an old neighborhood rather than some "non-denominational" box church in the exurbs...it pains me to see old churches throw away their rich traditions and adopt the vapid practices of new fundamentalist churches.
This church was moving in the wrong direction when I attended it; I sincerely hope it can come around. It had a lot going for it and it's a dreadful shame that the congregation was not able to emphasize and strengthen the positive aspects of the congregation and instead chose to throw them out and focus on embracing negative qualities such as homophobia and watered-down contemporary liturgy.
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