Amazing Grace

Tuesday night, we went to Crissy church with her. With 30-40 college students joining them (there were groups from Holy Cross and Boston College), we swelled the congregation to four or five times its normal size. The people of the church welcomed us enthusiastically. They had acquired a screen and projector since the last time I was in Hurley, which made singing with the choir a lot easier.

When I came to Hurley as a sophomore, it was one of my first real experiences in a non-Catholic church. By now, I realize that format-wise, it holds fairly true to a non-denominational church, or even some denominations, especially for a non-Sunday service. Content-wise, however, the church is always uniquely and beautifully Hurley. After a brief prayer, we began in song -- hymns that I didn't know, sung with a bluegrass twang. Since the words tended to repeat and the tunes were fairly simple, I could sing along pretty quickly (especially now that someone was projecting the words!). "Amazing Grace" made an appearance, as well as "This Little Light," which helped as well.

Then the pastor stood up. He thanked us all for coming, both to the church and to Hurley. He then introduced the pastor, assistant pastor, and youth pastor from a church in a neighboring town. They were hosting an evangelism event that involved bringing in some wrestlers I didn't know, who would give their testimony of how they came to Christ. It was directed at people who normally wouldn't set foot in a church. He asked for our prayers and help spreading the word.

Next, the pastor introduced a visiting pastor, who would be preaching tonight. If you came up with the stereotype of a Southern preacher, you would end up with something close to this man. He didn't say much on hellfire and brimstone, and his topics were more on love and acceptance (although he touched on the evils of evolution) and the saving power of Jesus. He spoke at a furious rate with passion and dynamics and a myriad of Scripture references, some direct quotes, some paraphrases, and some that I couldn't tell, because he was quoting neither the NAB nor the NRSV. To be honest, he went on so many tangents that I found his points hard to follow, although I know he said a lot of valuable things that other members of CCM picked up on.

At the end of the preaching, the visiting pastor asked if there was anyone who was unsure of their faith, who wanted our prayers to give their life to Christ. One boy from one of the other schools raised his hand. He agreed to come up to the front and pray with the pastor. I don't know if he was more stoic or less serious than other people I have seen answer such calls, but his face didn't match his answer. Even though it is none of my business, I want to know his story.

After the preaching, we prayed for members of the congregation who needed healing. Anyone who wanted healing of any sort was encouraged to come forward. Then the congregation stretched out their hands toward the person in need of healing, while the pastor prayed over him or her, calling on God, His Son, and His Holy Spirit to come down upon this person and bring healing. It seemed very Biblical : most Christians I know (self included) have a tendency to relegate miracles of healing to the New Testament and forget that we can ask God for such things ourselves. And the confidence that God would provide blew me away. Maybe it's just my weakness, but I have a modicum of doubt -- not in God's love or His ability to heal, but that He will simply because I asked. This man praying had no doubt of His God's power or His listening ear or His outstretched hand.

He then opened the floor for prayer requests from the congregation. People offered petitions for relatives, and the pastor lifted them up in prayer. The members of the church backed him up with soft prayers and quietly enthusiastic "amens" from all around us, so that they formed a back-up chorus to his loud voice. Finally, the pastor thanked us again, and church was over.