Trinity First

This morning, instead of going to our regular churches, the class was told to attend a service that took place in an impoverished area. Some of us decided to attend the church we had visited yesterday, Trinity First Lutheran in Minneapolis. The church service took place in the basement (instead of where it typically took place, which was in the sanctuary) because of heat issues. The church service lasted about an hour, and consisted of contemporary music, hymns, sermon, prayers, and communion. Although the church itself was in the most diverse region in the US, the congregation was fairly small (consisting of about 30-40 members) and was made up of almost entirely Caucasian senior citizens (this doesn’t represent the people in the community who the church serves in their outreach and in their school).
Obviously, this experience can be connected to yesterday when we met with the pastor and he spoke to us about the community and about his church. He was explaining to us how he would like the congregation to grow and expand, but that as complicated as the issues are in the neighborhood, including how it’s such a gateway neighborhood, he may have to change his expectations about his congregation and the way that he defines success in his ministry.
I really enjoyed the church service today. Granted, I wasn’t so keen on the music (I’m a very traditional hymn type of gal) but I really liked the message of the sermon. It was based of the scripture passage that teaches blessed are the poor, hungry, and worn, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The other half of the scripture was a warning to the rich, saying that they had already received their award. Since I have led a very privileged life, I definitely felt somewhat out of place and like the second half of the scripture applied more to me than the first. But, the people of the congregation identified with the first. The reason they were down in the basement instead of the sanctuary was because it was warmer, so obviously there were issues with heating the building. The music was not nearly as beautiful as it could have been, because the piano was horrendously out of tune. The sermon about poverty, the pursuit of happiness, and everlasting reward was addressed to, and related to, the people sitting that congregation.