Checking out churches and Solanapres.org sermons

What a magnificent day I had yesterday!

My family was in Idyllwild this weekend and I decided to do what I have wanted to do for a long time. Perhaps you could say I am called to do this. I looked on the internet for a church to visit and I found
Grace Episcopal Church of San Marcos.

It was not the first church I noticed, but a couple I tried to contact had wrong phone numbers listed [church webmasters take note!]. I searched Google Local in San Marcos, CA for christian churches. When you search Google local you may find phone numbers and addresses without websites or you might find a website that simply lists that information. You can also get listings of businesses that sell related stuff and I did see a few sites that sell church paraphernalia. In the case of Grace Episcopal, they have a website that helped me quite a bit. I also went to YahooMaps to get directions and realized how familiar the area is to me.

Yesterday was the first time I ever remember visiting an Episcopal church. I was Catholic as a boy and I had heard that Episcopalians were closer to Catholic in their structure and worship relative to most other protestant denominations or congregational churches. I've been attending Presbyterian churches for over 20 years and I personally prefer what I perceive as our more democratic style. I do think that all christians could learn a great deal by visiting other christian churches. I found this website while Googling Episcopalians.

There were three reasons I chose to attend this church yesterday. First, I've got a friend, Gordon Roberts, who is currently back in his native Peabody, Massachusetts. When Gordon returns to California I want to worship with him in this church and see if he feels more at home than he might have when he visited Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, my home church. By the way, his town is not pronounced the way most of us might think. Many of us are familiar with the intellectual cartoon dog, Mr. Peabody, but my friend Gordon's town is pronounced Pea-biddy, with the emphasis on the first syllable. So, there's no pause in between the syllables like J-Lo's old beau, P. Diddy. Second, I am familiar with the area and I assumed that the historic church, which was built before 1900, would be a pretty picture and it did not disappoint. Third, this church has a fairly informative website and I noticed one of the pastor's last names, Vawter, and wondered if he is related to a Greg Vawter who I went to 8th grade with in Valley Center, California. [Although The Rev. Eric Vawter Menees, the Senior Pastor, agreed that his name is pretty rare, he is not related.]

I attended the 8:30 service as I have learned to love the early services since I used to attend our service which started with singing at 7:50! [We have apparently come to our senses and now SBPC's early service is 8:45. Some people forget that singers and others need to arrive early for a worship service, so it's possible that some people were arriving before 6 am in the "old days".]

I drove up just as the singing was starting and found my way into a side pew that, sure enough, reminded me of my childhood days at St. John's in Encinitas, California. An usher handed me a program/order of worship and I joined in with the hymnal I found in the pew. I think I sang the last verse and a half. I noticed that they tend to sing the first three verses of hymns, just like the Presbyterian church I attended in Escondido, California about 20 years ago. I assume that this is done in the interests of time, but I like to sing all four [and sometimes five] verses. I understand not singing all the verses on some of those hymns that have umpteen verses, but I guess it's a matter of choice, right?

This was the first Pentecost Sunday I can remember being in a church other than my home church. I really liked what the pastor had to say about Pentecost being one of the three big christian holidays. I agree and think Pentecost gets short shrift. He told us that Pentecost was the birth of the church, when the disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit and some people in the town thought they were drunk at nine o'clock in the morning. Pretty amazing that people speaking in foreign tongues were thought to be drunk and people listening heard them speak in their native language. Amazing that a miracle could be viewed by some people as people being drunk.

There was no mandatory kneeling that I noticed, although we were invited to sit, stand or kneel at one point. It had been a long time since I was in a church with cushioned "kneelers" and so I did. I did not realize how long I would be kneeling, but, hey, it was good for me. I liked the stained glass and the feel of the church. The doors were open to let in a little breeze and the temperature was just right from where I was sitting.

After the service I got in line to shake the priest's hand and found lots of people hugging and standing around talking. I thought that was nice. I met a gentleman in line who seemed to be such a good speaker that I asked him if he was a member of Toastmasters and he confirmed it. When I shook Father Eric's hand I told him about using the internet to find his church and he said he was from back east and no relation to Greg Vawter. He let me know where the refreshments were and I found them. Just a pile of donuts with orange juice and water. I'm not usually a coffee drinker, but I'm guessing that was around somewhere.

My impression was that the people were most friendly inside the church. I have rarely seen a more sincere and enthusiastic "passing of the peace" and the conversations and hugs I saw standing in the exit line were a nice exchange among people who seemed to know each other well. Outside there didn't seem to be as much enthusiasm as I found myself saying hello first nearly every time. I haven't shaved in over a week and I suppose that could have something to do with it.

I did get to talk with a man who has attended for over eight years and he told me that the 10:30 service is full to overflowing and there are a lot more families and children who have joined the congregation since The Reverend Eric Vawter Menees came a little over four years ago. He mentioned that they need to build to accomodate the families and children and I was unclear how much latitude the local congregation has to raise funds on their own outside of the Sunday morning offering. He was patient and talked with me about twenty minutes, even connecting with his wife briefly and continuing the conversation with me.

I was surprised to find in the bulletin [program/order of worship] that "All baptized Christians who believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament, and who desire and intend to follow him as Lord and Savior, are invited to receive the bread and wine." I did not wish to violate their rules, so I told the usher, the same man I mentioned in the previouw paragraph, that transubstantiation and consubstantiation are not part of my doctrine, so I wasn't going up for communion. He seemed to understand what I was saying quickly right in the middle of the service and I have to say I don't think everyone would handle that as well as he did. He saw that I was not getting up to receive communion after the brief discussion and moved on to the next row.

I highly recommend visiting this church. Nice people and a pretty, historical building. If you're Episcopalian, it seems like a great place to join.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that I listened to a couple sermons that you can find at SolanaPres.org before I attended church yesterday. You can do the same by visiting that website and clicking on the fancy blue rectangle with the white words "Message Downloads". I really like listening to these sermons on my computer. And, when I started this post today I listened to another. In fact, my son listened to the beginning and he remembered when he heard that sermon preached. I love this technology. Give it a listen!

Lastly, from now on I will include links to my other blogs and websites in the title of that day's post. In other words, you can visit another website by clicking on the title of today's post.

God Bless You! :-)