C
Cat
Guest
I’m not sure where this goes, but I’m going to post it here and let the moderators move it if necessary.
It’s a story of what happened on Christmas Eve.
My family attended the 4:30 Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve, as I had to play the piano for the Gospel pageant. During the Mass, I was especially aware of the priest’s prayers for the grace of God to be in us all. (Sometimes it’s hard for the pianist to pay attention, since I am concentrating on the “cues” to start playing!)
At ten-thirty, we attended the worship service at my parents-in-law’s United Methodist Church. My husband and I and our daughter (also Catholic) were extremely tired at this point, and we went purely out of obligation and love for parents/grandparents.
Everything was pretty non-offensive until the sermon. The Gospel was John 1 (just like in the Catholic Church).
I was settling into the 100-year-old pew for a long nap, when the minister–a woman–introduced her sermon with these sentences: “What exactly IS this word spoken of in the Gospel? Is it peace? Love? What word did God speak to bring Jesus into existence?”
It was like a movie–my husband, I, and my daughter all sat straight up in our seats and lip-synched, “What!!!”
My daughter reached for the pew Bible, turned to John 1, and pointed to “The Word was GOD!”
My husband took out his Palm Pilot, found John 1, and pointed to the same sentence.
I didn’t have to find a Bible–I knew the passage.
Well, so much for the nap! We were all wide-awake wondering what “heresy” the pastor would say next!
We didn’t wait long. A few minutes later, the pastor said, “Jesus gave up his divinity to come to earth.”
Again, we all sat up in our seats. This time, I reached for the hymnal and pointed to the Nicene Creed “Light from Light” passage.
The rest of the sermon was a mushy, confusing mish-mosh of statements about the need to go to Darfur and help the people there.
I was sitting there fuming, wondering why my father-in-law–a graduate of Bible school–puts up with this teaching week after week. This is the kind of stuff that Protestants recognize as heretical!
The really interesting part of the story happened before the Communion. The pastor lost her voice.
Yes, she stood there and tried to say the “words of consecration” (which are the same as the priest says in the Catholic Church), and she couldn’t say them.
My husband, daughter, and I were sitting there, and I KNEW that this was God’s way of rebuking her for teaching such awful things to her flock. It made me tremble to see His power.
Anyway, the sequel to the story happened a few days later at our annual family gathering. My father-in-law was sitting at the table along with several of us, and we got to talking about the Bible and God, and I asked him–politely!–what he thought of that sermon on Christmas Eve.
Thankfully, he said that he knew it was wrong and not from the Bible, and he even said that he tries not to listen to her sermons because they’re so wrong. I told him about the Christmas morning homily that I had heard at the CATHOLIC Church–the priest emphasized the importance of knowing Jesus personally (a subject that is near and dear to Protestants).
My father-in-law then talked about how much he enjoys listening to Father Korape (spelling?) on the radio. I told him he’s welcome to come to Mass anytime he wants to hear a BIBLICAL sermon! He seemed quite responsive to that invitation.
So that’s the story. Anyone else have any good stories from Christmas about the churches they visited, Catholic or Protestant?
It’s a story of what happened on Christmas Eve.
My family attended the 4:30 Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve, as I had to play the piano for the Gospel pageant. During the Mass, I was especially aware of the priest’s prayers for the grace of God to be in us all. (Sometimes it’s hard for the pianist to pay attention, since I am concentrating on the “cues” to start playing!)
At ten-thirty, we attended the worship service at my parents-in-law’s United Methodist Church. My husband and I and our daughter (also Catholic) were extremely tired at this point, and we went purely out of obligation and love for parents/grandparents.
Everything was pretty non-offensive until the sermon. The Gospel was John 1 (just like in the Catholic Church).
I was settling into the 100-year-old pew for a long nap, when the minister–a woman–introduced her sermon with these sentences: “What exactly IS this word spoken of in the Gospel? Is it peace? Love? What word did God speak to bring Jesus into existence?”
It was like a movie–my husband, I, and my daughter all sat straight up in our seats and lip-synched, “What!!!”
My daughter reached for the pew Bible, turned to John 1, and pointed to “The Word was GOD!”
My husband took out his Palm Pilot, found John 1, and pointed to the same sentence.
I didn’t have to find a Bible–I knew the passage.
Well, so much for the nap! We were all wide-awake wondering what “heresy” the pastor would say next!
We didn’t wait long. A few minutes later, the pastor said, “Jesus gave up his divinity to come to earth.”
Again, we all sat up in our seats. This time, I reached for the hymnal and pointed to the Nicene Creed “Light from Light” passage.
The rest of the sermon was a mushy, confusing mish-mosh of statements about the need to go to Darfur and help the people there.
I was sitting there fuming, wondering why my father-in-law–a graduate of Bible school–puts up with this teaching week after week. This is the kind of stuff that Protestants recognize as heretical!
The really interesting part of the story happened before the Communion. The pastor lost her voice.
Yes, she stood there and tried to say the “words of consecration” (which are the same as the priest says in the Catholic Church), and she couldn’t say them.
My husband, daughter, and I were sitting there, and I KNEW that this was God’s way of rebuking her for teaching such awful things to her flock. It made me tremble to see His power.
Anyway, the sequel to the story happened a few days later at our annual family gathering. My father-in-law was sitting at the table along with several of us, and we got to talking about the Bible and God, and I asked him–politely!–what he thought of that sermon on Christmas Eve.
Thankfully, he said that he knew it was wrong and not from the Bible, and he even said that he tries not to listen to her sermons because they’re so wrong. I told him about the Christmas morning homily that I had heard at the CATHOLIC Church–the priest emphasized the importance of knowing Jesus personally (a subject that is near and dear to Protestants).
My father-in-law then talked about how much he enjoys listening to Father Korape (spelling?) on the radio. I told him he’s welcome to come to Mass anytime he wants to hear a BIBLICAL sermon! He seemed quite responsive to that invitation.
So that’s the story. Anyone else have any good stories from Christmas about the churches they visited, Catholic or Protestant?
in case that no one has noticed…).