We have this free daily newspaper in Seattle called
The Stranger. Now,
The Stranger isn't really anything you'd ever want sitting out on your coffee table in your home, and I wouldn't actually call it a
newspaper. Being that it's a Seattle-based paper, it is rather liberal. Hmm...to be more accurate,
The Stranger is as far left as one could go. However, occasionally there are some articles of interest and worth, and this past Wednesday's issue would fall into that category. It turns out that last Sunday, the editors at
The Stranger sent out 31 reporters to 31 different houses of worship in Seattle and had them write about their experiences. My church, Bethany Presbyterian, was one of the churches visited and reported on. So here's the introduction to the entire article, followed by the review of Bethany: (if you want to read all the reviews, click
here)
Oh, and the picture of the red brick steeple is of Bethany :)
A Month of Sundays
Seattle is godless.
We are, rather famously, one of the least churched cities in North America. It seems that most of us have better things to do on a Sunday morning than go to church. Seattleites would rather take a hike. Or nurse a hangover. Or fire up the bong.
We're just not that into Him.
But look around. There are churches damn near everywhere in this town—old churches, new churches, mega churches, mini churches. And just what, we wondered, is going on in all those churches? What are they saying? What are they doing? What are they plotting?
Last weekend, we sent 30 writers into 30 houses of worship to find out. We packed a month's worth of worship into a single day so that we could report back to you, our readers, about just what the Seventh-day Adventists, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Catholics, and the Jesus freaks at Mars Hill are up to. We also snuck into a mosque, a synagogue, and Sea-Tac's meditation room. We took a look inside their sanctuaries, we took in their sermons, we took Communion, and we took notes.
The Stranger gets religion.
It's a miracle.—Dan Savage
16. Bethany Presbyterian Church1818 Queen Anne Ave N; Sunday services: 9 am, 10:45am, 5pm
www.bethanypc.org
Two things worried me: how to dress, and the dread of singing. Dress is not normally a dilemma. Nor is singing. But in this instance both were concerns. I craved anonymity. I felt sneaky about attending a church service as a detached observer. I wanted, to paraphrase King Lear, to take upon myself the mystery of things, as if I were one of God's spies. This would require a modicum of invisibility. And no singing.
I checked the Bethany website. There was a picture of some people sitting in pews. They appeared to be casually dressed. Good. I could wear my jeans and running shoes.
As for singing, yes, there would be singing. Lots of singing. As soon as I arrived and selected a pew toward the rear of the chapel, strategically situating myself close to the aisle in case my morning coffee caught up with me a little sooner than expected, a kind woman with a welcoming smile handed me a circular with the morning's program neatly printed on it. And there they were: hymns. "Open the Eyes of My Heart." "You Are My All in All." "In Christ Alone."
The magnitude of devotion in the hymns was daunting. But when the time came to get up and sing, I stood. My voice emerged from its lair and blended with the other voices. Everyone was singing—I mean everyone. The Presbyterians were emphatic about participation. The prompting was warm and welcoming but impossible to ignore. Earlier in the program, everyone was urged to get up and greet the people sitting nearby. The sense of community was acute. The detachment I had brought with me, and was so carefully trying to preserve, detached, and hung around my ankles as I arose to sing "Open the eyes of my heart." JOHN OLSON
*****
I'm so glad that the reporter who visited us last weekend felt so welcomed and was able to let his guard down. And I love what he said about our community and the devotion in our music. Those are two (of the very many) things I really appreciate about Bethany Pres. - the songs we sing (hymns and praise songs) consist of great theological depth, and we have an amazing community. Unfortunatley, the reporter that visited us was one of the only 30 sent out (1 reporter had a broken foot so wrote about watching church on local TV - eek) that actually had a positive experience. In fact, the vast majority of reporters either left the services early or bolted as quickly as they could once it was over.
Pray for Seattle.
