Presbyterian

This morning I attended a small Presbyterian church. It was a nice little service. For the first time since I've been up here, I found a church that lights a Christ candle at the beginning of service and has a children's sermon. Apparently these are not "Methodist only" traditions. I was also glad to find that they sing out of hymnals! This may sound a little strange, but this is the first church up here I've been to that still uses hymnals! (or used only a piano and ORGAN for music) Anyway, there was lots of prayer and response readings. The sermon was about the coming of Christ and was taken from the passage in 1 Thesselonians 5:1-11. We also took communion, which was served a little different than I've seen it done. There were four servers that took 4 plates of bread, then actually walked through the congregation serving it. Everyone waited until everyone was served and then all partook of the bread at once. Then small cups of juice were passed out in the same fashion, but you drank this as soon as you received it. The offering was also collected in a somewhat interesting fashion. A couple and their 3 children collected the offering. The oldest son took one of the offering plates down the center while the mother accompanied her small daughter down one side and the father accompanied his young son down the other side. Then the father helped the boy bring the combined offering up and place it on the alter. I also found the service order interesting. There were greetings, announcements, then readings and a hymn, followed by the Scripture reading, Children's sermon, special music, and the sermon. Communion followed the sermon, another hymn, the offering, then sharing of joys and concerns. Lastly came another hymn and the blessing. The people in this congregation were small in number, but very friendly. I don't think I've shook that many hands or introduced myself that many times in a church service since I've been here. This church reminded me a LOT of the church I grew up in. Overall, a nice experience.