Church Review: Wesley Methodist
I went into the Wesley Methodist Church in Hawera this Sunday without giving it much prior thought. I woke up on Sunday morning, and felt like I was missing church and worship with other believers. So I decided to go to a church I hadn’t been to yet as part of my voyage of discovery, if you will.
Firstly I was 2 minutes late. This doesn’t seem like much, and at EVERY other church in Hawera I went to, this would have been considered on time. But here, it was late. Definitely late. Things had started. No one was on the door to greet me. Luckily the lady sitting beside me gave me her notices and hymn book and grabbed herself another.
Secondly I was given a hymn book. This was a new experience for me indeed.
For the service , the Methodist church was combined with the St Marys Anglican church which is something they evidently do over the holiday period. Next week the service is at St Marys.
My initial thought as the service progressed was about Catholicism. Had I accidently entered a catholic church without being aware of it? The following occurred and are things that I have usually associated with Catholicism:
· Communion was referred to as Eucharist and held separately
· Hymn books
· The minister was wearing a cute little robed outfit (vestments)
· The only accompaniment to the hymns was an old fashioned organ.
· Very very structured (methodical!?!) with ritual responses from the congregation to the minister at times.
I went to an Anglican church for many years as a teenager, and while I paid very little attention, I do remember it being very informal and similar to “normal” church. It turns out that that is standard for Anglican church. Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches have rituals that are almost identical and often follow a similar structure (and have cool robed outfits for the ministers).
After doing some reading (on the infalliable inter-web) I have come to realise there are a lot of similarities between Catholics and Anglicans, and Methodists that I never knew about. In my reading I came across some words not used in everyday life and looked them up on wikipedia:
1. Benediction - A benediction (Latin: bene, well + dicere, to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service.
2. Liturgy - Frequently in Christianity a distinction is made between "liturgical" and "non-liturgical" churches based on how elaborate and/or the antiquity of the worship; in this usage, churches whose services are unscripted or improvised are called "non-liturgical". Typically in Christianity, however, the term "the liturgy" normally refers to a standardised order of events observed during a religious service.
I found some parts of the service really enjoyable. But not the hymns. I like hymns in general but I didn’t know the words and it seemed like no one else did either! I do like some of the ritual parts of the service with all their mysticism and the sense that people have been following these for years. I loved how short and efficient the service was. I adored how the minister spoke about using your imagination to really enter into the bible as you read the gospels. But it is probably not a good fit for me. Part of the service involved holding hands with everyone and saying a prayer, and I am not into the touchy feely stuff at all.
Funnily enough it was only at this combined church service that I realised St Marys was Anglican at all. I have driven past it many times and assumed it was seriously catholic. So I can only assume it is a liturgical, structured service too. But if I’m up in time next Sunday I may attend the 9:30am service and see for myself.
KG
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