Saturday is always our "clean the house day". So that's what we did in the morning. I'm in charge of vacuuming and Dee does the dusting and polishing. That way we have the rest of the day to play and go places.
Dee had been wanting to search for a headstone for her mother's grave, so we wound a place in the phone book we thought we'd try. It was en route to a nice place for a late lunch, so we went there (near Grove City). We talked with the lady in charge (the place was had been a "tea room" and gift shoppe before it was her "office" for lawn sculpture and monuments. She worked for Kurtz Memorials. We found what we liked, and got the approval of the sisters. And so we went with the one that seemed to be what would work in the location next to Dee's dad.
Afterward, we went and had a lunch at the Elephant and Castle near the Grove City outlets. We had a coupon and had been wanting to give it a try. It was a nice pub like atmosphere and the food was good. Then we headed home. In the evening Dee went to dinner with her friends from Countours (9 this time), and I went to a Saturday night worship service at a nondenominational service in Cranberry. The newspaper said it is one of the fastest growing churches in the USA, so I thought I'd check it out to see what and how they do it. Their parking lot was full for the 6 p.m. Saturday night service. There were three large projection screens,fifteen musicians ( a little orchestra and three guitars, a drum set and a keyboard person along with 4 singers). One of the guitar players was center stage for the music. A gal sang a solo which people were to join in toward the end. I noticed that most people were not singing the songs with the praise band, just the band was singing. However, those that were singing in the congregation were into it.
The sermon was informal, with the preacher sitting at a table at times, and prancing across the stage at other times. The message was good, and he had an outline in the bulletin for people to follow, fill in the blanks, and interact with him from time to time. I could see people writing works in the blanks and even the children were doing it. The congregation was mostly people in their teens and early 20s and 30s with a smattering of people in their 50s. They had lots of greeters and people to welcome you, they had gifts for the first timers. They had an emphasis on mission and service to others. The sanctuary front wall was black with the three screens as white. There were tiny windows 8 tall and thin ones on each side with the blinds shut. They even had a projector pointed toward the back wall so the people on stage could see what everyone else saw on the front wall.
When I left I checked out the "gift" area, and spoke with a lady. I noted they had gift New Testaments for first timers. An interesting experience and pretty much what I'd expected. Maybe not as much "holy roller" as I'd expected. Everything was a little louder than I'd want on a weekly basis, but the crowd seemed to like that. I'm glad I went because there was food for thought regarding the church's future direction and various possibilities and methods of drawing new people into the faith. The service was about 70 minutes long and included communion, so that was shorter than I thought it would be.
At home, Dee and I compared notes for the evening, and we watched a little TV, turned back our clocks before going to bed.
Today we'll officially be welcomed into the Cranberry Community United Presbyterian Church (CCUPC) where I'll also be assisting as liturgist, and later I'll go to the Air Base to lead worship. Dee will be heading north to meet with her sister Ruth to chat and reconnect.
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