Having church

I saw this church as I was driving in on Wednesday, within walking distance from my apartment. So of course I was going to visit it ASAP. They have one service at 10 so I was there at around 9:50. I walked in and there were two sweet elderly ladies greeting people as they came in. Then, I walked into the sanctuary and there were about 15 people sitting in the pews. Every single head in those pews was completely gray. That's when I thought, "oh yeah, this is gonna be fun." I sat down and looked at the bulletin and saw that every single part of the service was outlined, complete with pre-written prayers. There was a sigh in my mind and heart. There were about 8 people in the choir and they sang from binder thingies and never looked up once. They sounded pretty good, though. They sang one song where the sopranos hit a pretty sick note and I had to stop myself from shouting, "SING SOPRANOS!!" I figured that might be frowned upon. There were no instruments but a piano, I'd forgotten how one-dimensional music can sound with just one instrument. I did see one drum sitting in a corner, forgotten and looking rather lonely. It looked like it hadn't been used in years. There were many mentions of "Mammon" throughout the service and I googled it immediately after I got home. Am I the only one who had never heard this word, ever? I guess you learn something new every day. I know you all are just dying to know what it means so I'll give you a minute to go look it up :)
Aaaaaaanyway, back to the service. They had a "Children's moment" where they had the kids (all three of them) come to the front and the sermon was taught to them...while the adults sat and watched. It seemed a bit strange but it was really cute.
The sermon was on Romans 12:2 and Jeremiah 1:10, essentially not being influenced by the world. Also, she taught about how we can strengthen our communities (Christian and otherwise) and thus build our "immunity" against the world. It really was a good sermon, I just didn't feel like it was connecting with the hearts of the people.
I did meet this girl from England who is also a student at the University of Rochester and also just moved here and was also visiting that church for the first time. We exchanged contact info and will be exploring churches in the next couple of weeks.
Updates will be coming soon!