Faith Works 6-24-22

Faith Works 6-24-22
Jeff Gill

Visiting a church on the way
___

July is peak vacation season, and we're hearing about new records of vehicles on the roads, reservations along the highways, and people waiting at airports for connections (and for cancellations, a different sermon indeed).

If you've been reading me for a long while, you've read variations on this before, but it's been a few years, and I think it's time to go there again: visit a worship service on vacation. You will gain much from the experience.

Some folks like to check with their minister to find out if a congregation of their tradition is located in the area they're visiting. That's an option. Going to the "same" church and seeing how different it is can teach us something about assumptions and expectations that really come home for us when we return, and see our familiar worship space in new ways.

What can really expand horizons is to let the Holy Spirit, or serendipity if you like, govern where and how you find a place to pause during a week or so away. Look for a sign or a reference in the brochures or any other nudge you might get, whether in a vacation community or just visiting family or friends on the road. Some place is likely to poke a steeple up in your field of vision, or post a sign right where you're looking for something else.

I've mentioned before the delightful experience we had in Deadwood, South Dakota, when a series of nudges led us to attend the church Seth Bullock helped build a century and a half ago (and if you don't know who Seth Bullock is, you don't know Deadwood). The priest of that Episcopal church couldn't have been more welcoming, and the congregants gave us some great hints about where we might go in the days we had left. They also noted that for as close as they were to the main tourist district, they didn't often get visitors from out of town like us. We talked about that after worship over coffee and cookies, and I think we all benefited from the conversation.

Plus, we had the experience of stopping to give thanks, to commune with believers, to share prayers and time in song and silence together. The sounds of the building, let alone the musical instruments, were different, the light in the windows and the feel of the seats, yet the Bible was familiar and the liturgy similar if different. I can only say: it felt right to be there, and it also made me value getting home, too, all at the same time.

Some people kick it up a notch, and intentionally attend a completely different kind of service than they normally do when they go on vacation. If they go to a traditional service, they visit a whole hog contemporary worship style church, just to remember what it's like; contrariwise, some (I think wise) contemporary preferring people go to a quiet, contemplative, liturgical service in their time away to keep the contrast in mind.

Either way, this can help you get off of the overly simplistic "right way/wrong way" model of thinking about worship styles. They are indeed different, and they each have a place; you might find your own feelings about them landing differently on your heart if you experience them in a different place.

But I would argue that however you do it, going to church on vacation is not about the question of not-not-going. We can debate the moral and theological merits of a weekly worship obligation at length, but I'm really talking about not missing out on the opportunity to attend a service where you don't know anyone, where your expectations and assumptions are set to one side, and when you are as truly choosing to attend as might be true any other day or week of the year.

It can be a transformative experience, in ways every service tries to be, but which you can help make possible for yourself and your family.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he may have a higher tolerance for feeling out of place than most. Tell him where you fit in at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.