Nothing embodies the holy spirit of Easter like worshiping our savior’s great sacrifice and resurrection in a movie theater, and not an old converted movie theater, but literally the theater where we saw the last Harry Potter about 3 months ago. And to further embrace the true spirit of the holiday, the movie theater that turns into a church before the first matinee also promises a free movie ticket to first time guests. I have two things to say about this: #1. Even we feel a little troubled about celebrating what is undoubtedly the most sacred day in Christendom just to get a movie ticket #2. The ticket better be for a real movie and not for Passion of the Christ or some recruitment flick.
We didn’t plan to celebrate Easter at the movie theater church. Originally, we planned to attend the Ukrainian Orthodox Easter Bizarre, I’d even written it down. However, when I went to the website on Saturday night I realized that the Ukrainian Orthodox Easter was not until April 15. I guess their Jesus took a while longer to decide to return to earth. I can’t blame him, I’ve never been, but pictures of Ukraine always make it look gray and cold and like it would smell like cabbage and street crime. When that plan was foiled, we looked at going to the National Cathedral, turns out you need tickets for that. So that brings us to week #10 The Life Church International Herndon, VA.
I’m pretty sure this was my first service with an African American preacher, and it is true what they say, “I’m not going back.” We were a bit nervous at first, there were not a lot of cars in the parking lot, but once it got started it was pretty good. The husband/wife preacher team had so much energy it was contagious. I love the style, the passion, the intonation, the women yelling out “teach it preacher” “amen” “hallelujah” “preach pastor”… with that energy you feel God, you really do. Any doubt we had about the authenticity of church in a movie theater was gone, it was actually quite nice; the seats are comfortable, there are cup holders, the sound system is great, all it took was some wooden crosses, a podium and some flowers and presto you have a church.
It took a while to fill in (insert raciest comment here), but eventually there was a nice mixed crowd. There were Asians, Indians, blacks, whites (well 3), most of them knew each other, but they were welcoming without being overwhelming. The service started with some worship singing, followed by the “love feast” sounds scary but it was just greet your neighbor time, then an interpretive dance, some very engaging preaching and a benediction given by a lady with such zeal and energy I’d probably follow her anywhere.
The opening worship songs woke us up right away, there was clapping and even with the small group, people sang. The sermon had so much energy, and the preacher had a true talent for vocal inflection. I can’t even put it into words, and my impression was laughable at best, if you can’t visualize it I don’t know watch a Tyler Perry flick or the scenes in Coming to America with the preacher, or something. The best part, well after the energy and the faint smell of popcorn, was the topic “God’s unconditional love” love for everyone, not just a few, but everyone. That is a great message.
In the end it doesn’t matter where you worship, that is just a building. The church is its people and this church’s people had heart. Heart, and a free post church film, can I get an “amen?!”.
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