Sunday hookey

I want you to know that this week I actually have a couple of things planned that do not involve church. Well, not directly. I'm going to a women's expo thing on Friday (time permitting) that is a bunch of women's businesses (Stampin' Up, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, etc) at the home of a friend, I do know her from church but otherwise, non-church. And I'm going with another friend (that I know from church) to a choral concert (at the basilica downtown--but it's not a church choir, just a concert that occurs in a church. A church with exceedingly uncomfortable pews--after twenty minutes you're praying its time to kneel and give your hip bones a rest, but I guess nobody kneels after Vatican II anymore. Perhaps the pope will do something about that).

You're thinking by now that all I talk about is church. I'm not going to talk about work, because that would really bore everyone to tears. And eventually I'll get started on our dogs, which might not be much better. (I got them half-clipped yesterday, maybe when I finish them up I'll post pictures. Kevin Drum has Friday cat blogging, I could do something similar.) But it is true, aside from work, church is probably the next largest thing in my life.

Our choir was not singing yesterday, and instead of going to church to support the guest choir that was there (naughty, naughty) I wanted to go to church at Central Lutheran. Check out the pictures here and here--it is enormous. Not only is it large, but it has a huge central square area--there is so much open space. Ringed around by large stained glass windows. Its really quite a bit smaller than the basilica, but the openness gives it a real "wow". (This church sits right next to the Minneapolis convention center.)

We've sung a few events at Central where all the downtown choirs were invited, and they have a really neat guy who is the organist/choir director. They have a newish organ which takes up almost the entire front of the church--it is gargantuan. Yesterday the choir was men only, but they sounded great.

Bits that we enjoyed: liturgy included the apostle's creed, Tom is very big on saying the creed. And he poked me as the Lord's prayer was coming up and pointed to the first two words in the bulletin, "Our Father." Our new church is meticulously gender-neutral (to a fault), and we say "Our God." For a Lutheran service, I thought most of the hymns were reasonably melodic. One of them was even one we know. (It was obvious we were Methodists by the fact that we sang along lustily--I had to glance around occasionally to reassure myself that the congregation was, in fact, supposed to be singing.)

Also there was communion. The sort where you go up and kneel in the front. Being Lutheran, it was actual wine. (I commented to Tom that for years that was probably the only way Lutherans got to have any alcohol.) And--they served the wine in little tiny individual silver stemmed chalices. I've never seen that before! (I tried to find a picture and could not, sorry.) I think it is really a little dicey for churches to serve wine. I mean, Jesus turned water into wine so fine that the guests were amazed at the quality. Communion wine is representative of Christ's blood. Given that churches can't probably afford a really decent vintage, it presents a rather uncomfortable symbolism. You can't really get into this dilemma with grape juice--grape juice is grape juice.