More Evangelical Christianity

First off, the evangelical Christianity:

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, after all of my thoughts and
(mild) criticisms of the Evangelical faith, but I had my first
experience with Evangelical church services today. It was Lucy and
Ricardo's graduation from Theological Seminary, and the graduation
ceremony took place during an Evangelical service (of course).

A couple of things were notable about the service.

My church experiences have typically been with the Catholic faith, or
with what I would consider more traditional protestant sects. I think
what that means, really, is that my experiences with church services
have been in churches that are predominant in New England, where I grew
up. I'm Episcopalian (Anglican) at least when it's convenient, and I've
spent a fair amount of time in Catholic, Lutheran, Congregational, and
Methodist churches, among others. But down here, I've only been in
Catholic services, though I've made fun of evangelical services from afar.

I will continue, by the way, to make fun of all flavors of religion.
I'm as open-minded as anyone in that regard.

Anyways, there was far less "O God (Gawd), forgive us for our sins, for
things that we have done and for things that we have left undone..."

There was, however, a lot of exaggerated gesturing, some low-key
speaking in tongues (I believe that's what I witnessed), a pretty good
Christian rock band (a 10 piece band, by the way!), lunch with lots of
Potatoes and no Guinea Pig that I could see, a Disney cartoon about
hookworm, and a theological seminary graduation ceremony.

So, as Emily put it, it was everything that I love all rolled up in
one. Church services and graduation ceremonies. Yeehaw.

Aside from my irrational griping about those two things, the experience
was interesting.

First off, a lot of indigenous apparel in evidence. This despite the
fact that evangelical churches supposedly discourage that sort of
thing. So are the rumors true? Half true, I think, but I may have to
elaborate on that later.

Second, the band was pretty good. Not exactly Gregorian Chant, but
there was a pretty good trumpeter and a good conga drum player. Maybe
there is hope for the evangelical tradition yet.

Third, the graduation ceremony was shorter than average. The only thing
better than a short ceremony is the complete absence of any ceremony
whatsoever.

Fourth, the Disney movie about hookworm was interesting. Not the
typical kind of thing that I would expect in church, but it probably
can't hurt to tell an audience of Andean peasants that they should be
using pit latrines. Plus, the movie was voiced-over in Quechua, which
gave me a little bit of an opportunity to practice.

Fifth, there was more quechua speaking. Always good. And beautiful.

Sixth, there was a blessing for the sick. And like half the
congregation got up to be blessed. This may speak to (a) different
social codes in different churches, or (b) how many people are sick. Or
both. But either way, it's interesting.

Seventh, I was at the church for about four hours, and I wasn't even
there for the half of it. Holy crap! No pun intended.