Church Review

We visited a new church Sunday - Preston Ridge. I was pleasantly surprised. It is one of those contemporary, P&W churches, but I enjoyed it (I prefer a more liturgical worship). One thing nice was the church architecture. So many of these P&W churches built large, impersonal, dank auditoriums designed for musical performance. I often feel like I am locked in a really large closet with no lights forced to listen to a really loud band. Preston Ridge - only the second church I have attended to be this way - has large windows (not stained glass) running along the full lengths of two side walls and on the second story. It may for an open, light worship, which was nice. It was refreshing that the pastor actually read from and referenced Scripture. While he did not do much hard-core exegesis, he actually read and used the text.

One thing I have noted that is an interesting cultural/theological phenomenon. Conventional wisdom holds that Baptists are "people of the book" and take the Bible very seriously. Yet, in most SBC churches I have attended, the pastors seem to rush through Scripture reading seemingly more out of obligation than contemplation. Yet at an Episcopal church - those folks who do not even believe the Bible according to CW - Scripture reading is taken very seriously. People stand, and one cannot enter or leave the sanctuary when the Bible is open.