The Vineyard

4th September, 2011

Today I invited Starke, Breanna and Breanna's cousin and wife to come with me to 'The Local' (an Irish bar) to watch the hurling final. They had never seen a hurling match before so they thought it might be fun to come along. I think they enjoyed it. Breanna's cousin loves Kilkenny beer so he was supporting Kilkenny (and had a Kilkenny beer at 9.30am). We had to pay to watch the match but you get a free buffet breakfast with entrance. There were a lot of Tip fans there but I didn;t talk to any of them.

After the match, Starke and Breanna were going to their church so they invited me along. It was a vineyard church (see above). This is a new evangelical movement. The service consists of rock music, a long sermon (with bits of scripture reading) and a one on one prayer meeting at the end if you want. It was in a warehouse. You first walk into a cafe-type place. Then you can bring your coffee into the church. The first thing that struck me about the church was that there was not one cross in the room. There was a stage with electric guitars, a drumkit and microphones. There are two flat screen TVs so you can sing along to the songs. It really isn't my type of music. But the people there loved it. It was mostly young people (so much so that instead of youth ministry, they have 'way over 35' ministry). People were clapping, dancing and putting their hands in the air.

After the music came the announcements (almost the opposite of most churches). And they have quite a lot going on. Then came the preacher, introduced by his wife. He was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. He had ppt slides with his sermon. He started the sermon. Then halfway through, he read a letter from St. Paul, then he continued with the sermon. He didn't really say much. I have read that this movement generally stays away from divisive and controversial issues. He must have talked for about 30 mins.

Then there was more music and singing. While this was on, people were free to take some communion bread as they wished. After a few more songs, a few members of the church stood by the stage and people went up to them individually to ask them to prayer for them. These seemed like very emotional moments. Almost everyone was crying. This was the end of the service.

The service definitely has an emotional impact on people. It might be a good starting point for people who don't know anything about Christianity because it is quite similar to everyday life (with rock music and language of the day). Because there is very little scripture, there is a danger that you might lose focus. All in all, the community were a bunch of friendly young people who are thinking more deeply about their lives. It is a very welcoming and open place.

I decided to go around Minneapolis for the rest of the day. It was a Sunday so lots of things were closed. I don't think that there is much for me in Minneapolis anyway. It has a lot of bars and theatres but for history and architecture, St Paul is your place. St. Paul has a more of a chilled out vibe as well, which I prefer. Since the bus I was planning on getting back wasn't running today, I walked back. It took about 1hr 45 mins.

In the evening, we went to Starke's friends house for dinner. He is from North Carolina ans has a great Southern accent. He has a really funny way of speaking. He has visited Ireland so we had some things to chat about. He is doing his PhD on monkeys and is a big fan. He had a monkey t-shirt and lots of photos of monkeys all over the house.