Cathedral of Hope - Church Visit #1

Justin Lovett – Church Visit 1

Church Name: Cathedral of Hope

Church address: 5910 Cedar Springs Rd, Dallas, TX 75235

Date Attended: Feb 16, 2014

Church Category: significantly more or less liturgical

I was in Dallas this weekend so I decided to attend a church that I would most likely never find in Wheaton. I went with a friend from Dallas. The church is apart of the United Church of Christ, called Cathedral of Hope, the worlds largest inclusive “liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.”

Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

I attend Church of Res regularly, and as many of you know, they have a liturgical service that exceeds that of most other churches. Cathedral of Hope on the other hand practices a mix between structure and free worship. It was not a service based of spontaneity, or the moving of the holy spirit, in fact the service had a lot of structure. According to a friend of mine who has been there about 4 times, they do sing two songs regularly. They sing the song, “this little light of mine,” and “Let freedom span both east and West,” but they were much more free in their doctrine and preaching. I will talk more about this later.

The people that attended were some what diverse. There were about 65 percent men, and 35 percent women. There was an even amount of Latinos, Whites, and Asians, but it did look like the dominant group was white men. Other than my friend and I, I only saw two other heterosexual couples, out of 800.  Most of the congregation were between the ages of 30-50 years old. They were all very nicely dressed and participated in the worship.

During worship people raised their hands during some of the songs, most everyone sang, the pastor read a short passage from Matthew 5:21-26 and then gave a 10 – 15 message which also incorporated an author’s writing about Buddhism. Most of the messages and songs were focused on the Grace of God, the freedom that grace gives, and the love of Christ. They took offering near the middle of the service, and then had open communion at the end of the service.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

            Their open communion was the most interesting to me. They said, “we have open communion, and we will not turn you away from partaking in the feast of grace no matter who you are.” I think most of the congregation has experienced a lot of rejection in their lives, from their families, friends, and churches. Cathedral of Hope’s open communion is a symbol of acceptance through the grace of Jesus.

            I found most appealing the welcoming atmosphere. To be frank, at someone points it was a little bit too much, but none the less, the congregation was actually more welcoming than the church I am regularly attending.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

           

            I have never felt as uncomfortable as I did during that service than I have in any other service. Some of the things the pastor said, I did not agree with at all. It seems like a very Universalist view of Christianity. He mainly focused on the love of God and his grace. Furthermore, He often used ambiguous language like Creator, or Maker when referencing God, and they called themselves followers of the way, and not Jesus. At one point, he started talking about scripture that is hard to understand, he was referencing Matthew 5:30, when Jesus says, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off,” the pastor said, “it is ok to disagree with scripture, it is ok to disagree with Jesus, some times old is not better.” Perhaps he could have said what he was thinking in a better way, because that sounded very illogical for a pastor of a Christian church to say that.

            It was strange seeing so many homosexual couples in one place. I think that the reason so many were there, is because many find it hard to find people who love them for who they are, like me, they want friends, and at this church most everyone is accepting them for where they are at. One guy who was becoming a member shared his testimony of why he decided to join, and it was because the pastor and one other member helped him move back to Dallas from Chicago. Not only were they the first people to be his friend, but they were eager to do so by serving him.

What aspects of scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

           

            The service I went to illuminated the aspect of Gods love. It was very focused on how the love of God can conquer all things, and that Jesus came preaching a message of love for everyone.

            In the church I attend the ministers will often go through scripture systematically, and perhaps use a personal story to illustrate the message. Church of the Cathedral preached in a topical style, which allowed the pastor to find more scriptural examples that explained his message.

            The last aspect that this church illuminated to me I found in their book that they give visitors. They bring to light that Jesus says nothing at all about homosexuality, but he says a lot more about judgment, pride, and hypocrisy. Why do so many Christians choose to focus so strongly on the sexual sin of others when Jesus did not see the need to focus on it? Instead we should be looking at the sin that is committed in the heart, like they said, Jesus had a lot more to say about judgment, pride, and hypocrisy.