A Patriotic Welcome
I scoped out the bathroom before worship, again following Stephen Cook’s idea of using bathrooms as a gauge of hospitality-- seriously, someone could write a really interesting dissertation on church bathrooms (or maybe just one of the most awesome coffee table books ever). The bathrooms were located in a breezeway next to the worship center and were open-air-- no door, just an angled hallway to allow for privacy. There was a one-way path through the bathroom indicated by arrows much like you might find at a fancier airport. The path led through a hall of urinals and toilets and then around to the other side with mirrors, sinks, and paper towel dispensers. The walls were tile of dark green and beige, and as the room was largely dependent on skylights, it was fairly dim in there. Every fixture was automatic. I think there’s something oddly symbolic about the one-way path, but I somehow doubt that was the architect’s intent. Maybe I should’ve taken a picture in there, but I think that would have come off even weirder than taking pictures of their kids’ facilities. Besides, it was time to head to worship.
Walking past the engraved glass wall and overflow seating in the antechamber around the main room, I entered Saddleback’s worship center. The worship center is a large cube-like room with a high ceiling that has exposed white piping and fluorescent lighting. The walls on either side of the room are made of nothing but windows, enabling worshippers to look out onto the adjacent patios and allowing the sunlight to illuminate the very white and gray room. The floor is covered in an unimpressive gray indoor-outdoor carpet. The seats are plain gray folding chairs, and there is a stadium seating section in the back filled with unpadded rows of seats like you might expect to find in any minor league sports arena. For all the pretty scenery around this church’s campus, the worship center is actually kind of . . . well, ugly. There’s just not a better word for it. This room is ugly. The stage was dressed with white curtains that could be illuminated different colors by the stage lights overhead, and a collection of incandescent lightbulbs hung from their cords to create ambiance amid this plain background. Right in the middle stood a big wooden pulpit that had a certain clunky, traditional feel that contrasted the rest of the room. The stage was populated by a choir of about forty members, a group of soloists and special ensemble singers, a full string section, a full horn section, and a praise band (two keyboardists, two guitarists, a grand piano, drums, and bass). It was by far the largest ensemble I’ve seen at a church, and they were all clad in red, white, and blue. Oh right, I guess some churches really get excited for the Fourth of July. Kind of forgot about that. My Fourth of July will probably be spent typing in an Arizona hotel room, so I didn’t exactly give the holiday a lot of thought this year. The ensemble were rehearsing as we entered, but they took a break with about fifteen minutes left before the service, and Christian contemporary music reminiscent of Nickelback began piping into the room instead.
I located a seat in the stadium section and perused the bulletin. Like the choir, it was decked out in red, white, and blue with star and stripe patterns. Printed on heavy paper in full color, the cover and interior featured pictures of multi-ethnic families designed to give the impression of a young, highly diverse church. I looked up from the bulletin to verify this claim. The room was probably about 95% white with a contingent of Asian students and families comprising the other 5%. Most hairs in the room were gray or white. There were quite a few middle aged folks with teenage offspring, many of whom were wearing excessive amounts of makeup, which I always notice because it’s been a pet peeve of mine for years. Excessive makeup is creepy regardless of age, but especially on kids and teenagers. I mean, I get using a small amount to accentuate certain features of a face, but some of these kids just cake it on, and I find the resulting visual a little disturbing-- very JonBenet Ramsey. Wow, that was a long tangent. Been having a lot of those in this write-up. Must be the Southern California relaxation making my words a little less inhibited. But yeah, older white folks, caked-up teens, and about 5% Asian-- not exactly the mosaic of races and ethnicities advertised on the bulletin. Of course, Saddleback is not the first predominantly-white institution to play up its limited diversity. For other examples of this, look at any liberal arts college website ever. Everyone tries to play this trick, so I will not fault the church. Perhaps they are even hoping to attract a more diverse crowd by projecting diversity (whether it’s really there or not). One thing’s for sure though: the smiles of the people on the cover of the bulletin were certainly reflected in many in the room. Even though the casually-attired crowd weren’t talking to me so much, they were quite friendly with one another and seemed to know each other well outside of the church context.
I turned my attention back to the bulletin, which also advertised upcoming worship events, opportunities for prayer and counseling, and numerous classes and workshops (including Kay Warren’s upcoming series on joy). Additionally, right there on the inside cover, it told me openly, “Please do not feel obligated to give in the offering. We take an offering to allow those who call Saddleback their church home the opportunity to give each week.” I guess that Saddleback hospitality also extended to not asking for money-- a refreshing change of pace after Mars Hill and Glide. The bulletin also talked a bit about ministry opportunities, including the PEACE teams, Saddleback’s international missions arms in Ukraine, Armenia, and Sri Lanka which work primarily with street kids and orphans as well as responding to other needs that might arise in the community (in particular, responses to injustices like land grabbing). Lastly, the bulletin featured an outline of Rick’s sermon with blanks for us to fill in, as well as a verse-by-verse breakdown of the passage (Romans 7:15-25) with certain words and phrases already underlined.
The room was probably about 60% full when the band returned to the stage. A very polished video played on the screens with various psalms and the word “worship” appearing across a variety of impressive landscapes. It turned out to be an ad for an upcoming event (the Night of Worship) in addition to being a way to transition into the service. As the screens transitioned into close-ups of the various band and choir members with a patriotic banner across the lower third of the screen, the ensemble kicked up into a prelude:
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain . . .
Oof. My stomach gave a lurch. I love my country, and I love my religion, but I sometimes get physically ill when people try to merge the two. Jesus never really struck me as being that down with national loyalties, and the Bible makes it quite clear that His ministry was always designed to be international from day one. After all, the verse does read, “For God so loved the world.” America is a great country, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, but I don’t think for a second that we’re somehow God’s favorite, and patriotic worship often carries that subtext. Of course, maybe my gastric distress was a bit premature. I decided to hold my horses before passing judgment. Rick Muchow (the worship leader who sported a shaved head, trendy glasses, and a quietly reverent face that reflected years of music experience) cued the trumpets to lead the transition into the next number. Using mutes and backed by a snare march, the trumpets began the melody that was soon fleshed out by a male quartet. At first, I thought my ears were deceiving me, but there it was plain as day: one of my least favorite songs of all time-- a tune that plays up a destructive god who marches with our armies into battle and lusts for the blood of America’s enemies. It’s a song that, if I had my way, would never be used again in any church ever.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I swallowed hard as my stomach gave a forceful heave. I get that there are instances in the Bible of God calling for some pretty violent stuff, and even the New Testament still makes allusions to God crushing the enemies of the Church. Still, the Battle Hymn of the Republic stands out as an example of people calling for God’s wrath when we’re taught (1) to turn the other cheek and (2) not to judge the righteousness of others. Also, I’m pretty sure that Christ’s “coming with a sword” in the gospels referred to the destruction of family units and closed groups and nations in favor of a greater united world under His leadership, so, as much as I love this country and believe in praying for the safety of its soldiers, this whole idea of God going into battle exclusively on the side of the American military is just plain wrong. Is God on our side? Yes, but God is with on all sides, and the real question becomes whether or not we are on God’s side, fighting for things that God would desire of us. Of course, I suppose an often-unused verse the choir sang does speak to that sentiment, and I was pleased that Saddleback chose to use it:
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea;
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make me holy, let us live to make men free
While God is marching on.
Believe it or not, I really do like that line about “let us live to make men free.” Notice that it doesn’t call us to fight to make men free or die to make men free. Living to make men free implies a wider lifestyle of social justice and picking one’s battles based on how the outcome might liberate others. It calls us to fight oppression using whatever tools we have at our disposal, be they economic or educational or --as a last resort-- military. Of course, we have to be careful since it was this mindset that drove LBJ to get us into Vietnam, and the Iraq war was also later justified with the same line of thought. It’s a thorny issue, and I believe that, unless a church is open to having this conversation, the hymn should not be used. I’m impressed with Saddleback for using that verse, but since the themes of the hymn were never addressed in the service, this song would’ve been better left on the shelf. Following the repetition of “glory, glory, hallelujah” by the congregation a few times, all present clapped, and there were even a few shouts of “Woo!” Much to my relief, this would be the last hyper-patriotic moment in the service.
Oof, started preaching there for a second. Guess I ought to get back to the service itself . . .
Worship Continues
Helen Mitchell came out onto the stage to welcome us and deliver the announcements. A business and management consultant who contributes to the Saddleback blogs, I would guess Helen is in her early 40s. Wearing a short blonde haircut, attired in dress casual, and carrying herself with just a bit of attitude, Helen talked for a bit about the church’s activity in Rawanda and about the CompassionNOW event occurring next Saturday to promote international literacy. With the PEACE project and Rick Warren’s AIDS advocacy and all their other various mission trips and initiatives, Saddleback does quite a bit internationally. Helen also talked a bit about the upcoming “Harvest Crusade” on August 12-14 and described it as a way that they were helping Southern California. It sounded like some sort of local service project at first, but a video soon revealed that Harvest was more of an evangelistic crusade. We were encouraged to pray for our friends who needed help, invite them, and bring them along to the crusade in Angels Stadium. The video advertised a number of Christian rock bands. Oh no, Christian rock. Now that is a tangent that I’m going to save for another day since I blame much of the Church’s image problem on Forefront Records and bands like dcTalk. Yes, that will have to get its own post some other day. For now, here's the Harvest Crusade video:
The video got applause, and Rick Muchow returned to the stage and donned a guitar to lead the next song. By this point, the lighting had shifted from the patriotic red, white, and blue to a more reverent blue and purple. There were quite a few raised hands as the congregation sang along:
He became sin who knew no sin,
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled Himself and carried the cross
Love so amazing, love so amazing
Jesus Messiah, name above all names
Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue of sinners, the ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah, Lord of all
Following the song, Rick Warren came to the lectern and extended a greeting to us and to all of the other Saddleback campuses that were watching. He was dressed casually in a light blue button-up shirt, with his usual glasses, goatee, and carefully-combed hair. (The problem with trying to switch to a combover later in his career is that we all already know that his hairline is receding, so why bother at this point? Still, I’m not here to study the man’s hair. I’m here to learn from his message and his mission.) Rick was friendly and engaging, his demeanor as casual and unassuming as his appearance. Even though he was discussing some pretty serious matters, his mouth seemed perpetually turned upward into a warm and welcoming smile, and there was a certain twinkle in his eye. He exuded hospitality and pastoral care, and it didn’t take me long to see why people are so willing to follow him.
Rick explained to us that, following this service, he would have to rush off to a meeting of the Global Congress of Vietnamese Pastors and Churches. Rick is highly in demand as a speaker (particularly for good causes like building churches overseas), so that sometimes means that his sermons have to be recorded and rebroadcast. He was going to deliver the sermon at this service (the 4:30PM), but the next would have to be from the recording. Rick asked that we keep him and the Congress and the nation of Vietnam in prayer as he spoke at the event. Rick then wished us a happy 4th of July and encouraged us to say hi to our neighbors (something which was done sort of hastily before Rick brought our attention back to his message). He talked about how the war in Afghanistan has now become the longest war in American history, but he said that we also face a war in our own daily lives that will be with us from birth all the way to death, an invisible war in and around us. Rick explained that we have three principle enemies in this conflict: the world, the Devil and his minions, and our old sinful natures that linger even after we accept Christ. Rick referenced an old Pogo cartoon featuring the famous line “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
After this, Rick turned his attention to a letter that he had received, and he read it aloud. A reader had asked him why it is that joy seems to shrink with time, that the excitement of becoming a Christian sometimes cools over the years, causing us to see the appeal in old sinful habits once again. “Why do I still make bad choices?” the letter pled. Rick explained that today’s scripture reading revolves around this battle which we will fight for the rest of our lives. This passage features Paul being brutally honest and authentic and transparent about his personal struggles. (Of course, one of the sermons I heard recently --or maybe it was even The Purpose Driven Life itself-- recently talked about needing to move beyond just transparency and into vulnerability, but still, I got his point about Paul being open.) From here, Rick read the passage, and even though he used the New Living Translation, I couldn’t find that version available online, so here’s the good old reliable NRSV:I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:15-25, NRSV)
I noticed that Rick was a pretty good reader. His tone was quite casual and conversation as he read the passage. This is an area where I struggle (since I have a bad habit of hamming up readings), so I really appreciate it when people are able to read with subtlety. Rick alluded to the concept of dueling higher and lower natures, and I immediately thought back to Julian of Norwich (which made me smile a private little smile since I knew Erin would be pleased that I made that connection). Rick finally asked the rhetorical question: “What’s going on here?” which he followed with the answer, “Paul is baring his soul!” Paul is no novice Christian. In fact, Rick argued that Paul is the greatest Christian in history next to Jesus Himself. Still, Paul is frustrated with trying to please God in his own way. Paul is living under the law and trying to change his life with his own willpower, but he knows that this is not the way things are supposed to work with God. In this section of the scripture, Paul explains both the costs and cures of this battle that we all fight.
Rick Muchow returned to the stage to lead another song, possibly the one that I’ve heard the most in my travels this summer:
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow,
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness,
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise;
When the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Blessed be Your name;
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Blessed be Your glorious name . . .
The instrumentation in this song was much more understated and meditative than the full band pieces that had been offered previously in the service, and I noticed that the music didn’t have very many big swells to it. The dynamics were very consistent, and the song had become more mellow. I noticed that there was a camerawoman on stage taking close-up shots of the band members. I sort of wondered if I could get away with doing that too, but I decided not to try (again, fear of being thrown out). After the song, Rick Warren returned to the pulpit to deliver his sermon.
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