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*This post is one in a series chronicling my ecumenical visits to various area protestant churches.

 As I've said, I did not feel at home at the Church of God.  Well, I felt even less at home at the Baptist church.

What do I mean by that?  Well, I think had the Church of God minister preached the same way as the Baptist one they would have been about the same.  At the Church of God I heard some "doctrine" in the sermon, but it was mainly about the story of Job and what it means to trust in God.  It was actually pretty edifying.

I contrast this with the Baptist sermon, which focused almost entirely on Baptist "doctrine."  Now, I don't know if that's the way he preaches every week, because he actually warned me before the service that he would preach on what they believe.  Still, he couldn't have made any clearer the differences between us.  I've said that my intent on visiting these other faiths is not about noting the differences, but on trying to see the similarities, to notice what we have in common.  I found it very difficult to do that this weekend.

I don't say these things to put the Baptists down.  Maybe this would also go for the Church of God's beliefs, but like I said, that sermon was much more emotive and encouraging for perseverance rather than a creed.  But I walked out of the Baptist church thinking to myself that they have a very impoverished understanding of God's Self-Revelation and their own vocation to holiness.  I disagreed with a lot, and had it come to argument (and it did not, because that's not why I went), I could have backed up the Catholic position with Scripture, with the Fathers, and with my own use of reason.

None of that matters though when you realize that they are galvanized in their point of view.  The way things were presented made it very clear to me that pulling one of them aside and listing off to them my own 95 Theses against the Baptists would have made no difference.  (Something I already knew - Testifying to the Truth is not just being able to state it clearly, but actually living it.)  It was truly amazing for me--who have spent the last three years broadening my experiences of expressions of the faith by living in Rome and traveling from place to place--to sit and worship God with a small group of people in Elmore County, Alabama who have it all figured out, who have little connection to the rest of the Christian world, whose concept of "church" is just the people that fit in their small building on Sundays and Wednesdays.  The universality of perspective of the Catholic Faith stands in stark contrast to the Baptist point of view.

But like I said, I didn't go to note the negatives but the positives.  And well, I enjoyed the singing, and I was very glad to see that their hymnal had music for four part polyphony on just about every song.  Again, like the Church of God, the hospitality was very warm, and I very much appreciated it.  I also met a couple people (including the pastor) who have familial connections to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I also enjoyed praying with them.  They had something like the General Intercessions, where the pastor led everyone in prayer for the needs of the community.  They do in fact care about and entrust to God their sick and suffering.  Imagine that!  I don't know why but it caught me a little off guard.

Let me reiterate:  I go to these services with the intention of participating as fully as possible without compromising my own Catholic identity.  So I prayed with them, I sang the hymns in praise of God, I listened to the sermon and to the testimonial given by one of the members.  The task is to show up and really pray with them, and to show them that I'm not afraid to do that.  Even though I felt pretty uncomfortable (and not for lack of hospitality), I at least did my best to be present to them.

And then there was the issue of silence.  The Church of God was noisy before the service because everyone stood around talking.  This church wasn't.  ...  That's not because they're at all like a Catholic church, but because the choir was practicing, and the projector on the wall was displaying the words "please be quiet, the choir is rehearsing."  Regardless of the reason, I was allowed to sit in silence before the service started.

Anyway, this visit definitely made me appreciate more my Home and the manifold blessings God has given me.  "There but for the Grace of God go I."  My life, my Catholic upbringing, and my vocation are truly wonderful gifts from God.

Unrelated Photograph:

Standing solemnly at the grave
of Gen. Patton in Luxembourg.
Note the beard.