A very spiritual Sunday

 Yesterday I attended two different church services, and one political gathering that opened with prayer and closed with the Doxology.  I was so tired I went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept until 4 a.m.  That's rare for me.  

I started with the 7:30 Mass at St. Andrew about 2 miles away.  I enjoyed the beautiful music, all the scripture--Psalm, Epistle, Gospel, the Nicene creed, and The Lord's Prayer.  I don't remember what the Homily was about--they are usually quite short. Then at 9:30 I went to Grace Fellowship which is about a mile north of our home, on the same street. Very friendly, young congregation.  Someone met me in the parking lot and walked me into church, explaining a little history since I told him it was my first visit.  Then when I noticed his nametag I realized I'd met him several times at Panera's where I use to go for coffee in the morning. Despite their friendliness and commitment to Christ and the Gospel, I won't go back.  Like a lot of churches with a young congregations, it was an assault on my ears and eyes. I was prepared for the noise, because our son used to play in a praise band. This was much, much louder, and since I'm on a heart rhythm drug that can be dangerous as one's heart tries to work with the thuds and booms. The light was a surprise.  It was in the dark.  All the nice windows (stained glass from the previous denomination that owned the building) are covered with darkening drapes, and sound absorbing objects are between windows (didn't do much). When the sermon started (video from Pickerington, Ohio Grace Fellowship church), the lights came up a little so one could take notes.  There were maybe 8-10 narrow columns of light in the front behind the large video screen.  When I blinked, each column would expand to about four.  It was very distracting. So my ears hurt and my eyes burned. That's not a worship experience, but it is a sensory experience which young adults may enjoy.  I still have my good hearing.  I was one of maybe 3 people people over 60. 

In the afternoon from 2-4:30 (ran long) I went to a friend's home with about 10 other like minded Trump supporters from my church.  There was one woman we all met for the first time, the founder of WomenFightingForAmerica.com.  Since our church has been on lockdown since April, it was really good to see people I hadn't seen in 6 months. The guest from Florida and our host talked a lot about what is at stake in this campaign--particularly religious freedom--but others talked about their concerns about our community which has been moving from red to purple to blue these last 2-3 elections, our schools which are buying into Critical Race Theory, the plans the left has for riots in DC after the election, regardless of how it turns out, and the squishiness of some evangelical churches and organizations. Very little was said about Trump because we don't see this as a race between Trump and Biden, but between two different philosophies and sets of values.