A Non-Believer in Church: First Presbyterian at Oxford

My third post in this series of church visits generated a fair amount of feedback because it highlighted the issue that Christian extremism still exists in Mississippi. When the post was featured on the Friendly Atheist blog, one commenter suggested that I visit the First Presbyterian Church in Oxford. I live in Oxford, so it was a natural pick.

Traffic is heavy because Eli Manning is in town and I made it to church at few minutes late (which I can't stand). I slipped in the back door, grabbed a bulletin and sat on the back pew after 8:30 AM. Today was "Youth Sunday 2008," which means that the entire service was conducted by the church youth. I know nothing about the traditions of the Presbyterian faith, so if anyone would like to comment on this, I would appreciate it. This church visit was certainly an improvement over my last visit.

I made a quick headcount estimate of 150 people. The church building is small, but beautiful. The walls are lined with gorgeous stained glass windows, each depicting a popular story from the Bible. There is a large organ and a choir pit for 20 members. A cross made out of cedar timber rest in the front corner of the auditorium.

The service outline was long and took over two pages of the bulletin to print every song, prayer, and poem in the program. Every word of every prayer was in the outline, as were some of the shorter songs. The service had an odd arrangement where everyone was required to sit or stand at different times and this wasn't announced or printed in the bulletin. I stood after everyone stood up and sat when I saw everyone sit back down. Some cues would have been helpful.

The regular church-goers wore their traditional Sunday clothes. The youth all wore black t-shirts with the words "Even the smallest light shines," which was this Sunday's theme.

Instead of one lesson, there were four lessons, each given by a high school student. Each lesson had to draw from the theme found in Ephesians 5:8-14. The first speaker was a girl! I have never been in a church service where the lesson was given by a female. This was the most pleasant surprise of the morning. There are passages in the Bible which directly say that the women must learn in silence and it takes courage to realize that this is sexist and should be ignored. She talked about the darkness that she faced because she is a senior who still didn't know where she wanted to go for college or what might be her major. The other three speakers talked about circumstances where they felt in the dark: a friend who committed suicide, a sister in the hospital, and an encounter with a stranger as a young child. Only one of the speakers referenced a Bible verse: John 3:16-21. "John 3:16" is a classic sign to see at sporting events, but the rest of the passage is lesser known. I would like to write a critical critique of that passage, but I'll save it for a later time since the speaker is a high school student and was probably only using the passage because it is classic.

After the lesson, there was the offering, three girls sang a beautiful hymn and then the communion followed. The head preacher gave a nice, short talk about the purpose of the communion: it should be for everyone who is interested in Christ and wanting what he has to offer. Rather than pass the communion on plates through the aisles, everyone in the church stood up and in an organized manner walked to the front of the room to take it. I was the only one in the room to stay in my pew and I know I looked like an oddball.

One of the youth played his guitar during the communion and it took me a second to realize that he wasn't playing a hymn. He was playing the Black Crows' "She Talks to Angels," which is funny because it's a song about drug addiction. After the service, we all walked out into the church court yard. The head preacher, an older gentleman, walked up to me, gave me an odd dap handshake and said, "What's up, my man? All is well?" I have to respect a man who tries to reach out to a younger culture, even if I don't know which younger culture he's trying to reaching.

Tags: atheist, nonbeliever, church, Mississippi, Oxford, Christian extremism, First Presbyterian Church, Eli Manning, women, bible