Memorable Church Services – Top 10

This morning I was reflecting, over my first cup of coffee of course, on church services I have attended over the years.

Here are my top ten:

10. The service I attended when the minister compared the cross above many churches to the “Golden Arches” of McDonald’s and if you saw a cross on a building, you knew it was the universal sign that said that building was a church.

9. The time I took my youngest child to Sunday services, and he sat with me instead of going to Sunday School. When it came time to ‘greet your neighbor’, my young son headed down EVERY aisle to greet anyone who would shake his hand.

8. The service I had been invited to that had a congregation of over 1,500 members. I felt puny and alone, but people welcomed and introduced themselves to me. I didn’t get the opportunity to return for several months, but when I finally returned, I was greeted BY NAME and I was welcomed as if I had been there every Sunday.

7. And then there was the “memorable-but-not-in-a-good-way” church that I belonged to. I was a member of the choir, assigned to a spot right up in front, but I injured my back and had surgery but still got “thank you for your participation in this past Sunday’s choir service” emails for the two months I was gone.

6. Another not-so-great church that baptized my children but didn’t tell me they were doing it until it was done.

5. The Sunday service at the tent revival in Oregon, where I was baptized in the river. I’ve written about that one, and even now makes me smile and hum the Neil Diamond song, “Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show”.

4. The Sunday services I watched on television with my youngest’s elderly grandmother when she got to the age where she didn’t want to go to Sunday services in public anymore.

3. The service where my youngest was baptized in Lake Tahoe. I have pictures of that one.

2. The Catholic services I attended with my late sister, back when I was an impressionable teenager. She explained so much of the service to me, gave me insight into Catholicism, and made me feel welcome in an otherwise intimidating service.

And my Number One, Memorable Service so far:

1. The service I attended was where the minister rode down the aisle to the pulpit on a motorcycle and revved the engine before shutting it down. He described the bike in detail and pointed out different parts – the handlebars, the kickstand, the tank, the seat, and so on, and we noticed that the various pieces of the bike were different sizes and shapes, and some weren’t even motorcycle parts. He had built this bike over a span of about ten years from many discarded parts he had found in his second job as a junk dealer. He compared this build with the way God’s Love and Grace puts us back together, taking our broken parts and making us a thing of beauty, worthy of God’s Love. Now every time I hear the rev of a motorcycle, I’m transported back to that service and the message that God can take discarded parts and make us whole, into something great.

Do you have a memorable moment?