Nashville, TN: One of the most freeing things about The Great Church Search is that I'm learning I can talk about my faith without feeling too preach-y or making the other person uncomfortable. I've spent years silencing myself for fear that my beliefs were too much. Or the greater fear: if I finally did speak my truth, and the other person didn't agree, I would be left alone. (Which has happened. Multiple times.) This project is a good segue for me to be able to talk about the importance of faith in my life, by sharing my experience of the structured journey I am currently on. Others who are curious about the concept might be more open minded to having conversations with me about faith, which they wouldn't necessarily have otherwise.
Case in point: I'm in a bar, watching a band, strike up conversation with a nearby muso and somehow in our conversation, we talk about churches. Specifically, my great church search. For the record, I don't ask the "so, where do you go to church?" seemingly-southern-prerequisite-question I got a lot when I first moved to town. This piece of information comes up in a more organic way. Think more along the lines of, "so, what do you do for a living? What do you do for fun? What sort of random projects have you started at the beginning of the year and are blogging about still?" Ish.
His response surprised me: "I go to church in a mall." Now, I understand it's not the structure of the church that is what's important. But, a mall? This I've GOT to see for myself.
Sadly, Peanut was on the road this weekend, so this would have been my first solo search. Realizing the shared experience together, yet separate reflection is a big part of the process for me, I opened up the question, "anyone wanna journey together this Sunday?" I got a note from Bill, a friend of a friend, who I had met a couple of times, but didn't know well. He seemed up for the adventure, so we met at 9:15am on Sunday morning. At the mall.
Aesthetics: I'm not kidding you. The Church at Antioch meets at the Hickory Hallow Mall. Recently, some of the anchor stores (Macy's & Sears, specifically) have closed at the mall, built in 1978. Not good for business, but it became an opportunity for this new community. Plus, Sunday morning mall parking makes it a snap to find a spot and make your way into the 2nd floor entrance near Macy’s (as they direct you on their website).Greeting: We were greeted immediately with a friendly welcome by two members at the entrance. Prior the the service beginning, another woman came over and introduced herself to us, seeing that we were visitors.
Community: This was, by far, the most diverse community I have seen thus far. There were roughly 80-100 people in the intimate (and fairly hip) room who made up a beautiful blend of Caucasian, African American, Latino, Asian and I'm guessing a few Portuguese people, considering they read one psalm in Portuguese. The average age was in the 20-40 range, with about 15-20 kids, mainly young couples with a handful of older folks, perhaps attending with their grandchildren.Music: Let me highlight the music in three parts:
1) the instruments: not only were there four great voices offering four beautiful harmonies, but the instruments played were the guitar, keyboard, tambourine and a trumpet. And during communion, it became a muted trumpet. Like the people, the instruments were just as diverse and lovely.
2) the language: all the songs were sung in English, as expected... until they sang one in Spanish. Hearing the congregation sing to Dios, (Spanish for God), I somehow felt a deeper connection to the world as a whole, not just in my little space in Antioch. It also gave me a good energy boost to continue with my Spanish lessons!
3) the music leader: ok, this is not technically important and has nothing to do with God or the journey, but the main music guy reminded me of AJ from the Backstreet Boys. And he even did a little rap in the very first song to seal the deal. I wouldn't put it past God to throw a little boy band resemblance in front of me to get my attention. (Thanks, G.)
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| Credit - HotFlick (right) |
Service: The service was comprised of songs and a reading of one psalm for 35 minutes, sermon for 50 minutes, communion/tithing/final prayer for 15 minutes. That's a 1:40 service. That's a long time to stay focused. Plus, even with the doors closed, it was hard to ignore the background music of the mall. (Somehow, Sara Bareilles singing about Love Songs didn't quite go with the theme of the sermon, communion.)
Message: If you're going to do a 50 minutes sermon, you've really got to grab my attention and keep it there. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Even my new technique of asking God to specifically talk to me, though the pastor/priest, was hard to hear. Though the topic (why do we take communion?) was interesting enough, the eight fairly significant reasons listed were attempted to be explained within the keep-it-under-an-hour timeframe. I was left with more questions than answers and felt my attention being pulled away by other un-communion-related thoughts. Perhaps an eight-week series discussing each point in detail weekly would have made them more understandable.Denomination: The Church at Antioch is a non-denominational church who proclaims itself to be "multi-ethnic and multi-generational." It started this year -- literally, January 1, 2012 (same day as I started my project!) -- and was specifically set in Antioch, since there are more 70 nations are represented in that one area.
Overall: I am impressed with the diversity of the people and the eclecticism of the music. I was a little disheartened that the message didn't grab me as I hoped it would have, but perhaps after only being in progress for five weeks, it may take a little bit of time to get the flow.Contact:
5252 Hickory Hollow Pkwy.
(@ the Hickory Hallow Mall)
Antioch, TN 37013
Website: www.thechurchatantioch.org/
Facebook page
Reflections on the Journey Thus Far: I knew I would find God in more places than just a traditional church, but I really hadn't considered the mall in my top 10 list. I guess it just goes to show that one step leads to the next, which leads to the next, which leads to the next. And eventually you're closer to where you were at the beginning... or you're officially a mall walker.
One More Thing: So, as mentioned above, Peanut was away this weekend (today, in Bloomington, IL), so I didn't have her expertise in researching the post-church-debrief-lunch as per usual. To add insult to injury, our mutual road pal, B.Fluke, texted me a picture of her & Peanut, together in IL, holding a homemade Peanut lunch creation. Though jealous of B.Fluke stealing my plus one (and lunch!), I took my plus one du jour to the closest food establishment we could find. I won't be reviewing this one (and I doubt Peanut would either), but I figure a little IHop couldn't be too bad after a little church hop.
PS. Thanks to Bill for joining me, sharing in great conversation and for breakfast! What a great way to get to know you more.
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