Sunday, October 19, 2008

2 Churches then homeward bound

Sunday morning on vacation is always a moment of decision for me; as an active pastor in a church. 48 Sundays a year I'm committed to be present in 1 congregation of 1 specific denomination. On Sundays when I'm on vacation there's a surprising moment of decision. Where to worship? This morning I visited 2 different churches.
I went alone to my first pick, ST JOSEPH Ukranian Catholic Church, located at 5000 N Cumberland Ave, Chicago, IL 60656. It was a quick drive from our hotel. The 8 a.m. mass was in Ukranian (sung parts) and English (spoken parts readings, prayers, sermon). The sermon was top notch and scriptural. The preacher held up Jesus' story in the gospel text about Lazarus and the rich man in Luke as an invitation to both care for the poor and to live with humility if we live in plenty.
I was greeted in Ukranian on my way in and out of church. On the way out I had a good conversation with the cantor.
We went together as a family (along with my beloved's dad and his girlfriend) to the UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST Church of Elgin located 39W830 Highland Avenue Elgin, Illinois. The order of service allowed time for sharing of joys and concerns, had adult and youth leaders, a variety of music (some prerecorded) .
Chilren were ushered out for snack and story while the adults received a presenation about "reclaiming the word god" from the minister. It was a thoughtful reflection on the nature of the divine but I couldn't help wondering throughout the presentation just how the congregation and its minister would have reacted durring the response time if the Apostle Paul had stood in their midst and delivered his same sermon that he shared on Mars Hill in Acts 17 :16-34. I'll email their minister and ask his response.

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