Redeemer

I want to apologize for taking a few extra days to post this past Sundays experience because school got a little hectic.

                This past Sunday Lauren and I went to the Redeemer church. This church was awesome! It was my first time going to a church where you could count the members sitting in the crowd. The experience in my opinion was more personal. All the college kids and twenty year olds sat together and greeted us with open arms. The worship music was new to me but was my favorite new aged style like my home church plays. After discussing the expansion to their own building which sounded great the sermon started.

                The pastor was a younger man compared to the different sermons we have attended. On this particular Sunday the church had started their Ephesians series. The sermon had the constant theme that Jesus changes people. The pastor referenced to the bible multiple times. This was the first time out of all the sermons that a pastor/ preacher actually loved, and was involved in what he was saying (in my opinion of course). I felt that he didn’t have the attitude of “well its Sunday again, time to preach”. Yes, the other worship leaders didn’t have a fed up attitude or anything. I just feel this worship leader was excited about his sermon; he could not wait to teach us on this particular Sunday. Preaching wasn’t a job but a love is how I felt throughout his sermon when I compare him in my mind to the rest of the worship leaders we have seen so far. (Yes I know worship leading should never be a job; that it should always be a love). Since I could feel and see his excitement it made me more open, willing, and excited about listening to what was going to be said. I liked the way that he was able to bring the language of the bible and transform it to today’s events, language, and style. For example he had referenced Ephesus to New York today during a part of his sermon. He also referenced to Craig’s list, and UFC (my notes aren’t legible enough for me to be able to give you the specifics about Craig’s list). The UFC reference was to Acts 19, verse 16. He basically said like in UFC you pretty much fight naked and get bloody but when you lose there is no decision period. You just loose or win. The judges don’t take their time and say “yea, well he may have lost”, “it could be a tie”. No, you win or you lose. He used this to prove that Jesus’s changes people, one way or another Jesus’s changes people.  Throughout the sermon thee pastor used his expressions, sounds of his voice, and emotions to convey his message. I believe by him being extremely enthusiastic about the lesson that Jesus changes people, I was more willing to listen 110% instead of having my selective hearing I tend to have. :/..

I love the way he preached in his sermon, the way he used today examples and compared them with what Jesus was doing in the bible. This week I went out and bought the version of the bible that this particular pastor had used during the sermon. All in all I think I will be attending that church again in the future.

               

 I have to admit we slacked this past week, and we will be taking this Sunday off at exploring different churches. Lauren and I are hoping to get permission to attended Hindu church, or Buddhist monastery in the near future. We are working on getting permission from different places in our area. We will continue and hopefully have an updated if we gain permission the first Sunday in October.

Until next time..

Sunday Vagabond Maya

We were under a Bridge

“We were under a bridge”

            Last Sunday Lauren and I went to a homeless church. I never knew one had existed until Lauren asked if we could go. Sunday came unlike the past 2 Sundays we didn't start our day together. We started our journey to the Church Under the Bridge about 2 pm. While we drove down to Houston following the directions I began to prepare myself for the unknown. After being lost Lauren points out people gathered under a bridge/overpass which is actually part of 45. We finally found a group of people, seats, and a make shift wooden cross.

   The setting consisted of a wooden cross about 6 feet long tied to a pillar in what was the center of the stage. Old worn carpets were used as the outline of a sanctuary and plastic lawn chairs completed the setup. Two speakers and a trumpet player playing with a cd welcomed us to our seats. A man walked around giving free bibles, and a table at our backs had a stack of them for anyone to grab.

            At first there were not many people, but as the sermon kicked off slowly more and more walked through the grass and grabbed seats. Some you could tell attended this service regularly because they would stack their chairs 2 or 3 plus then sit in them (the chairs were flimsy).  The trumpet player accompanied two songs and then the pastor took over. An average height bald African American man welcomed everyone and thanked the trumpet player. This pastor was dressed in normal worn blue dress pants and a polo. Throughout the sermon he referenced to his life wandering the streets and doing drugs. I was shocked that the pastor had once been in the same situation the people around us were in. In my opinion I feel that him being able to relate to his audience  made the atmosphere and sermon more powerful! The sermon was about worship. The pastor asked several times "who do you worship"?  “What do you worship”? "Do you worship video games, TV, books?"  “What is it that you worship?” Then he explained how he used to worship drugs, and then he found god. Now he worships god; not a little bit but he said he is in a major part of everyday of his life. That he spends at least 50% of his day making sure he has god with in, in everything he does. That little man blew me away because as I watched him preach I felt knowing he had been in the same position as the people around me gave them more hope and power to fight through and make a better life.

            The sermon ended and he asked for an offering. I thought asking homeless people for an offering was strange. Laruen and I had discussed it in the car because I was slightly teasing the fact that he asked for an offering. Lauren had explained to me that it wasn’t silly because you are supposed to give God/the church a percentage of your income. I had replied they have no income, and then Lauren explained more in depth the reasoning behind the offering purpose. Few people went up and dropped what little they had in the offering pot.  The Pastor continued to explain even if you don’t have anything to give just come up and touch the offering pot to show your love, your worship. I thought that was a nifty idea. The worship closed with a prayer and then was the next step.

             Dinner!! The Church Under the Bridge supporters had made a dinner with a bread roll and beverage for these people who attended the sermon. It was incredible these people who had nothing came to worship God and participated in the sermon by responding, singing, and lifting their hands. It didn’t matter what specific religious classification you were because everyone was coming to worship a higher being. I hope to go back to church under the bridge and participate in the volunteer side. I would like to be more hands on then sit on the sidelines as an audience. After going it became a reality check as well of how grateful I am in everything I have.

Well, until next time..

Sunday vagabond Maya

"...and then I realized that we were sitting under I-45"

Maya and I were both looking forward to this Sunday more than the others! We had been to the "mega-church" and to Catholic mass and now we felt like we were stepping "out of the box". 

Maya picked me up in Market Street. We had both gone to church earlier that morning, Maya to a church near her school and I to my church here where we live. After church my dad, sister's boyfriend, and I went to eat at Uni Sushi which is a sushi restaurant that is in the overpriced, ritzy but charming part of our town named Market Street. It's a place where on any given day you see at least 30 BMWs, a few Porches, no lack of Mercedes, plenty of Range Rovers, and, more often than not, a Ferrari, Maserati, and/or Lamborghini. Not to mention there is currently construction underway to open our very own Tiffany & Co. So needless to say it's a happening place in a town where there is no lack of cash flow. 

When Maya picked me up we discussed how, unlike the weeks before, we didn't have to worry about being underdressed. Rather, we were worried about being overdressed in jeans and sneakers because this Sunday we were going to Church Under the Bridge, a homeless church that meets under Interstate 45. Yes, that is right, I said it meets under I-45. 

I had first heard about Church Under the Bridge in a class called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Naturally I was curious, but I could never figure who would be curious enough to join me in visiting with me. Enter Maya! 

As we continued down the interstate towards downtown we each to our turn complaining about how we have always felt that we are the poor people in The Woodlands. We griped about the fact that we each drove the crappy cars to school while other kids showed up on their 16th birthday with their new 3-series, G35, or whatever "straight off the car dealership lot" car their daddy had surprised them with. We each agreed that we felt we had to explain to people who lived outside "The Bubble", The Woodlands that is, that we weren't "those" kids. 

The irony of that conversation hit me shortly after we had arrived to our destination, sat in the back row behind a number of homeless people, and then I realized that we were sitting under I-45. These people had come to the church to hear from the Word of God, maybe find temporary shelter from the sun, and maybe even to receive a free meal. Some seemed to be paying attention to the trumpeter who played along to a gospel song. Some sat in the background and conversed with others who slowly trickled in. It was hard to not pay attention to the service but instead observe those around me. 

There was the man who was wiping the sweat off his brow with a piece of newspaper and reading another piece at the same time; the woman sitting away behind the preacher selling drugs to the guy in the yellow shirt (yes, we saw a drug deal go down); the few tricklers coming in in what I assume was their "Sunday best" of a sloppily tucked in button up, dusty slacks, and an off-centered pair of suspenders; and the man and woman who truly seemed to be enjoying their time openly worshipping God. They all were there, seemingly happy regardless of their circumstances and here we were with our nice clothes, iPhones in our pockets, in a new car, coming from a very affluent community complaining about our cushiony lives!

During the sermon the preacher spoke about how when we consume our time with thoughts of money and possessions, with thoughts of how good we had it in the past (for those that were present and lacking sufficient funds for their needs), and things like drinking alcohol and watching porn then those things become what we worship. We are guilty of those things everyday. It is hard to deny our human desires for things of this world when what we should be concerned with is being the creation who worships the Creator so that the stones need not cry out (Luke 19:37-40). 

Overall, the experience was awesome and we both agreed that that would not be the last time we visited and hopefully one of y'all will be interested in joining and maybe staying to help serve lunch after. We hope that this will make y'all think about how grateful we should be for what we do have. I know it is something I struggle with, so if y'all catch me being materialistic or ungrateful just slap me around a little, haha just kidding!!! Thanks for keeping up with us! 

Sunday Vagabond Lauren 

I'm a Mexican. You'd think I would know more about this!

It's true. Most mexicans were raised as catholics so you would think that being a mexican I would have more knowledge of catholicism, but I was raised as a follower of Jesus Christ and the one and only living God, what some may refer to as a "christian". Only the label "christianity" can be a word that refers to many different denominations whose beliefs may differ and at some times contradict one another. So as a side note when someone asks me what my religion is or if I am a "christian" my answer is a constant struggle within myself because I don't define my faith as a religion or by labels. The only thing that matters to me is that I have a relationship with Jesus Christ who is the son of the one and only living God; Christ was sent by God to the earth to die an earthly death on the cross because God loved, and still loves us, with an unfailing, everlasting love; Christ died and returned from the dead three days after death and through him and him alone we find the gift of grace and atonement for sin; God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are three in one (the trinity) and the Holy Spirit (essentially all three since they are one in the same yet separate) lives within you when you admit that you are a sinner, believe that Christ died for your sins on the cross and rose from the grave after three days, and confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior of your life. Sorry, I know that I just ran off on a tangent, but I felt that that above all was necessary for this entire blog. I may be expressing my views of these experiences with an unbiased opinion, but in all reality that is a choice I am having to make for anthropological reasons. In all reality my opinions, outside of this blog, are biased towards what I believe because it is, in fact, what I believe. As I mentioned in a previous blog, my faith in the things above mean the difference between life and death for me. 


Alright, back to the second Sunday experience. 


Unfortunately, I have to admit that the little information I know of this specific religion/denomination of christianity comes from the drawn out weddings of distant relatives that I have attended, a religion class that I took at the community college (which seriously neglected catholicism to focus on more "exotic" religions), and the movie Nacho Libre. Not very solid resources if you ask me. With that being said this specific blog may not be too great but bare with me if you would. 


One thing that was interesting was that there was scripture read but I never really understood what they were reading from. I recognized some things being from the bible such as a reference to Matthew 10:37 which refers to the fact that if you love your father or mother more than Jesus then you are not worthy of him. The whole idea was that you must love Christ above all. But there was more to that specific reference that I did not find in the Bible. It makes me wonder if what they were reading was a different version of what a baptist or someone like that would read within the Hebrew Bible or if it was something that was not originally placed within the Hebrew Bible but rather a Deuterocanonical book meaning that it is scripture but not apart of what we know as the Holy Bible. I have heard that catholics do use more than just the Bible as a religious text. 


While the priest spoke about taking up our cross (which is found in Matthew 16:24) and following after Christ, it made me think of how different this sermon was from last week. Last week was all positivity. In this sermon I felt that the priest was being more real with us, aside from the fact that he was reading from an unknown (to me) text. He told us that it would be hard but that it was important to rid yourself of earthly burdens and follow after Christ. Now that is truth. He also mentioned that our faith is tested everyday in the 1000 decisions we have to make. So true! We are constantly having to choose right from wrong and what will bring Christ glory instead of glory to myself. Right on Mr. Priest :) 


Lastly, being that I have very little understanding of anything that went on during this mass, I noticed something interesting. It interests me that they take communion every week as a church body. Many churches differ on this making me wonder what God would prefer us do. Catholic mass has a sort of mandatory/habitual communion weekly, some churches do it on a schedule and it is orchestrated by the pastors and deacons, and other churches set it up for members to do it as they please. Just thought it was interesting to see. 


Overall this Sunday left me with many questions. If the priest was talking about following after Christ does this specific church recognize Christ as Savior and believe in salvation by faith or by works? What is the proper procedure for communion and how often should we practice this... what is God's intention for this? 


So many things went through my head during this last Sunday. I know this was a rough blog, but I was honest and I promise they will not all be this confusing or hard to produce. Hope y'all have a great week! 


Sunday Vagabond Lauren 

Traditions and Catholics

Hello!

This past Sunday we attended a Catholic church near our houses. It was my second time in my life to attend a Sunday mass, and Laurens first. My first time attending a Sunday mass I felt more like an outcast not because I wasn’t Catholic but because I couldn’t take part in most of the usual Sunday traditions. When I woke up Sunday morning I had text Lauren asking what she was wearing so I could get a general idea of “nicer church attire” compared to my usual church outfit which consists of jeans, casual shirt and whatever shoes. I decided black slacks and a nicer loose blouse, and put heels on hoping I wouldn’t make a fool of myself walking into the church.

I met Lauren at the church in my spiffy outfit and we walked in together following the groups of families. Like the first church we had a good warm welcome and made our way to the right side of seating next to where the music was. As soon as we found our seats we grabbed the pamphlets that were in the pews and looked over them. I compared them to the ones my church has and informed Lauren on the differences. Immediately after we looked over the pamphlets we both turned toward each other with questions about our surroundings and what different things they did on a Sunday. We wondered what the holy water was for when entering the church and decided between ourselves it was to cleanse yourself before sitting. We discussed between ourselves about the crosses over our stages look liked because the Cross over their stage had Jesus nailed to it. My church has a Cross above the stage with a scarf wrapped around it. All of the sudden the music started and the congregation started to sing their songs of praise. The music I felt was a mixed between new aged and traditional styles but still had the traditional feel.

Down walked two children holding candles, and a man who could be priest holding a big book that I am going to assume was a bible and another man walked down holding a book of worship songs.. I am not well educated on the subject of catholic traditions, so those are my general assumptions. After this the worship kicked off. Starting with more songs of praise, a prayer was said and the children left for bible study. Next a few more songs were sung like “lift up your hearts”, “He is exalted”, and a more traditional song in my opinion was “In Ev’ry Age”. For the more traditional song a women went up and belted the verses reaching every high note making the song beautiful and glorious. The sermon this Sunday was about your faith being tested as in personal experiences, through societal experiences, and community expierences. The Priest (I assume) was more personal when speaking because he used a personal experience about a Jewish man marrying a Catholic women and how his family disowned him. The sermon went more in depth about the “walk of faith”, fighting for faith and love. I could relate to some of the things the Priest was saying but then I feel like he lost me in his words because he started to announce how their (this) church has the largest food bank to help people, and how they helped more victims during Ike. All wonderful accomplishments but his wording seemed more of a boastful announcement. Then the Priest went back to saying how the positive news never makes it into the real news or is slightly left out. Then all of the sudden the sermon ended. We sang praise some more then Lauren and I sat out while they took communion because I knew for sure we weren’t allowed to join. (I feared that we were offending someone while we sat but if they knew we weren’t catholic they would understand I reminded myself). As we walked out of the church we shook hand and were presented with smiles with whom I think is the Senior Priest and made our way to breakfast.

All in all attending a Sunday mass was a good experience because I could see new traditions mixed with old traditions but still have the old traditional essence behind the scheme of things. Everyone has their own fancy in Sunday worship and in my opinion I don’t fit the traditional style of worship.

Sunday vagabond Maya

"I'm kind of a big deal. People know me."

Church number one really emulates the famous word's of the San Franciscan news anchor, Ron Burgundy who said, "I'm kind of a big deal. People know me." It is the largest, most well-known church in the Houston area is and it is, as a matter of fact, a big deal with it's world-wide selling author Pastor, world-renown worship leader/team, and it's former NBA basketball arena building. They have definitely made a name for themselves. Thus, church number one on the Sunday Vagabond's adventure. I have to be completely honest as to say that I had always judged this specific church because of it's reputation. I have felt this way for four+ reasons: it's huge, it's flashy, it's televised, and it's a well-funded institution. I promised though that I would be unbiased in each of my church visits so I was, I promise :)


All preconceived notions aside, we woke up early Sunday morning, did a Starbucks run and were off. When we walked in we felt very welcomed by all the greeters. They were all very friendly and I felt that their joy and smiles were pretty genuine. Maya and I walked all the way around the building until they finally let us in the actual sanctuary. We walked down the steps and surveyed what we saw. We decided we could 1) sit on the sides and watch the huge screens or 2) we could sit on the ground floor and watch everything live and be in the middle of the action. Naturally, i decided the latter would be better for our anthropologic purposes even though we would not be able to use our phones for sneeky texting breaks during the service ;) 


The service started with worship and a greeting from the pastors. Worship was great! It was great to see free worship without feeling that you are out of your place if you had a little boogie in your step or felt like raising your hands in praise to God. My only reservation was that with the exception of one or two songs it was all about how God can do anything and how we can do anything through God. Don't get me wrong, I do believe like it says in Philippians 4:13, we can do anything through the strength of Christ, but isn't worship supposed to be about how great our God is, an adoration of his power, strength, and sovereignty no matter what the circumstances in life may be? 


The sermon was equally as good as worship. There was scripture recited out of Psalm 40:2-3 supporting the sermon that encouraged that one can overcome discouragement and truth was spoken through said scripture. Unfortunately, my thought throughout the sermon was, "How does this apply to your life, pastor?" At no point was there an application and I began to feel that snip-it verses were being thrown at us as though we were at a self-help conference and we had no knowledge of the actual context of the verses. Could someone explain to me why we go through this discouragement and could it be confirmed that as it says in the Bible in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." It is not about us, it is about God's glory. I never heard this very important fact within the sermon. I felt it was very "me" centered. 


Something I do have to commend them for is that one of the pastor's stated that in order to make a decision that is based in following God's will you should consider the following: Peace vs. no peace about the decision, and allowing God to lead you by the integrity of your heart. I felt that that was very sound advice for someone who was or will be struggling with life decisions. 


Overall, I had a pleasant experience. I've heard that the pastor has said that he wishes to be the elementary introduction into a Christian lifestyle, the face of what a church should look like. From there he wishes to have those who have surpassed the depth of the church sermons to move on and reach deeper. While this is good for those who are new in their faith I feel for the church who may not have room to grow with such limitations. I pray and trust that the leaders of the church will follow in God's will and be able to discern what will give him due glory. 


Until next time, Sunday Vagabond Lauren :)

Mega Church :o

Church 1)

This new adventure started last Saturday night after our shift at work. Lauren and I researched different churches around the Houston, magnolia, and woodlands area and the next morning we tackled our first Mega Church experience. The first church we went to was Joel Osteen’s Lake Wood Church which is the old compact center. On our way up to the church Lauren and I kept reminding ourselves to keep an open mind, try not to be biased, walk in leaving our opinions at the door. We parked in a parking garage like parking at the Galleria then made our way to the front doors. The second we walked in we were greeted with friendly faces and up the escalator we went toward the main sanctuary. We found the doors to the sanctuary and entered the room. The size of the room is like a basketball court for the NBA. The sanctuary had two sections for the choir, a stage for a band filled with drums, guitar, bass, trumpets, saxophone, a trombone, and a number of different singers. On the other side of each choir section there were waterfalls. We picked seats on the floor area directly in front of the stage but 30 lanes back. The band jammed for a little bit then Osteen and his wife came out and greeted us. Then the band took over again for a few more songs of worship. Finally the sermon kicked off and was fairly short in my opinion. During the 2 hours we were there I would say the band and singers jammed for 1 hour and 15 minutes and then between the sermon and different prayers Osteen took about 45 minutes. The sermon was about not letting distraction interfere with your goals, not letting the times beat you down. The message was good, Osteen used many examples from the bible but I feel like he never related himself with the crowd or his words. The atmosphere besides feeling massive was very warming, friendly. The followers sang and danced (pretty much made the room feel kind of connected). In my opinion in a church that size I think nobody can connect on a more friendly relationship level. I think everyone is pretty much an acquaintance, or just the person who sat next to you this Sunday.


All in all it was a good experience. I can’t say anything bizarre happened when i compare the experience to my regular church experience.

Hope everyone enjoys!

Sunday Vagabond Maya