Last Week's Church Visit - The Power Center Church

Evening Blog Family...

When you belong to a community you should, ideally, feel as comfortable in its houses of worship as you do on its streets, its schools, its stores, parks and restaurants. Which isn’t to say that one has to be polytheistic. It’s just that visiting a community’s religious spaces is a meaningful way to learn about your neighbors and friends as they engage in the spiritual side of their lives.

Indeed, to see people at church, synagogue, mosque or Buddhist temple is to see a very private side of them. But it’s public, too. It can feel intrusive to walk in on a religious group that is not your own. But it can also be highly instructive and even enlightening. To see people in their house of worship is to observe them at their most quiet, their most thoughtful and inwardly focused.

Last week I went to Sunday services at The Power Center Church. I went, partially, because I had heard so much about the church, however the title of Pastor Horn's sermon, "The Church Need's More Stripper's,” intrigued me.

I found Pastor Horn’s sermon to be very interesting on a personal level. The service was not in the typical sanctuary, where it’s easy to slip in and out unnoticed. Instead it was in a large open warehouse room arranged like a church, which in my opinion excluded the feeling of a warm community gathered together but welcoming of strangers like me. I liked the modest, almost humble feeling in the space. I didn't like the fact that the pastor seemed to be a part of every aspect of the service, but not the ego (or super ego) at the center of it (at least I hope not). It didnt seem as thought he gives anyone other than the Singer's a chance to express themselves, through music, song, prayer, recitation, etc. Until the close of the service there was another gentleman who dismissed and it was obvious, it wasn't planned or scheduled to occur. There was an Altar prayer which was really confusing, one guy is servicing the Pastor (distracting), while he's delivering words of encouragement to the people at the Altar. Strange enough there was a comfortable give and take between the audience and the pastor. The sermon itself was thought provoking. Nevertheless, tomorrow I'm off to another local church.