Surprising Communion Tears- A "Church Shopping" Experience

I felt a tinge of parental guilt when I told our kids that we were visiting yet another church. They've enjoyed some of the churches and others not so much. But even when they enjoyed the church I knew they had to deal with the stress of being the new kid in a new place.

As we approached the church, we passed Wegmans and parked next to the movie theater both places that were familiar to the kids.

The first sight that caught my eye was two church members out front picking up trash. As I got closer I realized one of them was the principal at my son's school that I had just seen the other day.

One the whole, I felt very positive about the visit and I'll share the highlights below.

Congregation
First off I noticed that the sanctuary was full of Millennials and young adults all of whom are leaving churches across our country. There were several older people too which I took as a good sign. There had to be 30 or more kids that came in for the last part of the service to recite Psalm 23.

Sanctuary
The church met in an old baptist church complete with stain glassed windows and lush red velvety padded pews.

Feel
I felt welcomed and like I belonged. This is not a conclusion based on research but simply an impression. I felt no pressure to be "churchy". I felt like a gay person or a skeptic would be welcome. I felt like this was a place that cares about substance over form.

Mission
I definitely visited with a significantly positive bias. I had met the pastor, "Spence" last year. When I was reading about missional communities, I looked up churches in the area that had them and City Alliance was the only hit. I had a lunch conversation with Spence and another pastor. I knew they are intentional about showing love to their community. I have not attended a city group but I am open to checking them out if my family is open to attending. Spence also led and assisted racial reconciliation efforts in Williamsport and I think the world of him for that.

Communion
This was an odd communion for me. I suspected my wife was curious about whether I would partake and I wondered what she thought about it. I wanted to partake but wanted her to go first. Tears fell as I prepared to partake. I was thinking about death: Jesus' death and my own. It hit me...Jesus died. What if that was it? I decided, if that's it and his body decayed and lay in the soil of the earth, I consider it a beautiful privilege to have my matter also resting in the same earth. If I raise like he (if, in fact it turns out he did) did, I have no words. I count it a privilege to have been able to experience conscious life on this earth. I take solace in knowing that my death will bring forth new life on the planet.

I also saw in communion, an openness and invitation. God's table is big. People of all stripes, colors, religions, orientations are welcome. Jesus was not strict in his table fellowship. In partaking I felt accepted as well as a desire to be an accepting person.

Other highlights