The Church Hopper

On Sunday, December 4th, I visited Fairview United Methodist Church. Being that I have been a part of the Methodist church for over 20 years in the area – I am pretty familiar with this building. They have a front and side entrance, both with nearby parking, and both lead you to the sanctuary area. Their nursery and bathrooms are also all on the same floor, which is always helpful. 

As you walk in, they have a coffee bar set up with some seats for folks to mingle before and after the service. Their greeters were posted at the entrance to the sanctuary with bulletins ready to hand out. As the lady handed me mine, she mentioned that she didn’t recognize me and welcomed me to Fairview. 

While I have been in this church many times, I had not been for a Sunday morning service before. One thing that I love that they do (and that I haven’t seen anywhere else) is they have Pew Bears. They have teddy bears at each end of the pews with a tag on them.  The tag basically says that these bears have been in worship services and are blessed.  So, if they bring you comfort, you can take one home. Pretty cool!

Their bulletin highlighted the theme of the second Sunday of Advent, which is LOVE. It also included an order of worship, weekly schedule for the church, prayer list, announcements, and a space for sermon notes. 

Overall, the service was very typical in my opinion for a traditional United Methodist Church. While we are on the subject of the UMC, Fairview recently voted to begin the process of disaffiliation. What that means in a very quick blurb is that they are now, as a church, going through the legal process of leaving the UMC denomination. This disaffiliation process is not quick, but they are going through all the steps right now. Until then, they are still a UM church and have a UM pastor. After the process is complete – I will have to go back and visit again.

Back to the service… As in most UM churches – they celebrated Holy Communion since it was the first Sunday of the month. The UMC has an open table policy when it comes to communion. Anyone who loves God is welcome to partake of the elements. LOVE THAT!

The sermon was repenting and “Turning Around” (sermon title) from our old and selfish ways this holiday season. The message was based on Matthew 3:1-11, and I am going to include those verses below. 

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Now that you have read that passage, I hope you understand the blog title better! haha 

After the service was over, I had two people thank me for visiting as I was leaving. I will add that they did have cards for visitors to fill out and put in the offering plate. I did not do that because their offering came much earlier in the service so I didn’t have time to fill it out. However, I am sure they actually do follow up from those cards.