Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Church in a bar

Yes, you read that correctly. On Sunday, we had the day off because we didn't print papers Monday. Our church search has been going very slowly; we've only been to one we'd go back to. We've found a few others we're interested in, but their location or schedule precludes us from attending regularly, or even visiting, because of our Sunday work schedule. But anyway, I digress. Since we came from a Vineyard church in Philly, we were curious to try the ones here. We've been to The River, which is right near work, and honestly, the church we'll probably end up at. But we were curious to try the North Brooklyn Vineyard, and we may visit a morning service one of these days, but yesterday, we visited their evening service, held in a place called The Trash Bar. Now, if you know me at all, you know I like drinking alcohol about as much as I like drinking Robitussin, and I stick out like a sore thumb in a place called The Trash Bar. Needless to say, I was pretty uncomfortable when we first got there. The front room is your typical small bar. Pool table. All the seating is old seats out of cars. One of them could've been out of my mom's '80-something minvan. We got there around 5:30 and the "service" didn't start until 6. So we sat in the front room for a bit until we watched enough people go behind the curtain to figure out the service was back there.

Behind the curtain (no, no wizard of Oz), it was dark and cool. The people were friendly and they gave me a free pen and a Butterfinger, which made me happy. But there was a bar behind the curtain, and a bartender there to serve. You can literally drink during the service. Now, the church we were members of in Philly had this thing called Faith On Tap where they'd meet in a bar once a week to talk about faith in a non-threatening environment, so I was sorta familiar with the idea of a church meeting in a bar. But that wasn't actually a church service like this was. They had a time of worship, then they did announcements, then the guy spoke. Prayer, more music. A real, true church service, which we both enjoyed. Our late breakfast of cinnamon rolls had worn off by the end though so we jetted pretty quickly after it was over to find some food.

Never thought I'd go to church in a bar. Where did you find God today?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You know, you ought to make a living as a writer, editor, or something...

Absolutely killer punch line.

Meaghan said...

You know, usually I tell people to never try to find their soul mate in a bar. Maybe I need to rethink that advice!

Sounds really different, but you know, we may have to visit "the bar" when we come visit you - whenever that may be... (hopefully sooner rather than later!)