From the "More Things Change....." Dept.

My son Allen sent this to me, he is attending University of Southern Mississippi, working on his Masters in History.

I found this description of a church in colonial Virginia during the 1680s. Reminded me of Recovery Worship:

"It was, however, the face-to-face contact at services that was socially important, a necessary addition to lives lived in the neighborhoods. A traveler in the mid-1680s set the scene for us: A graying frame building in the woods, as dilapidated as the houses, with an array of plank benches surrounding it; the families straggling in, some on foot, some riding, striking up conversations with each other. What struck the traveler most was the smoking. 'When everyone has arrived the minister and all the other smoke before going in. The preaching over, they do the same thing before parting. The have seats for that purpose. It was here I saw that everybody smokes, men women, girls, and boys from the age of seven years.' What most strikes us is the social scene. Ninety years later the church might be brick, by the scene itself might be exactly the same, another visitor writing of 'the three grand divisions of time at the Church on Sundays, Viz., before Service giving and receiving letters of business, reading Advertisements [on the Church door], consulting about the price of Tobacco, Grain etc. and settling either the lineage, Age, or qualities of favourite Horses [the equivalent to talking football today]. . . . In the Church at Service, prayrs read over in haste, a Sermon seldom under and never over twenty minutes, but always made up of sound morality. . . . After Service is over three quarters of an hour [are] spent in strolling round the Church among the Crowd.'"

There is also an account of the failed attempt to form a three-point church co-op. The parishes shared a rotating staff of three clergymen, all Anglican, and ended up developing tensions because of jealousy and territorialism. The Middle Church was the oldest, wealthiest, and the largest. The business of the co-op was carried out at the Middle Church, but the other two churches began conducting meetings on their own. In time, the smaller churches made theological decisions in "rump vestries" without the Middle Church's representatives. The Middle Church ignored these decisions and allowed the North and South Churches to do their own thing. Of course, these smaller churches couldn't afford to support pastors, so they went years without having communion. The Great Awakening changed a lot of this since it allowed them to essentially elect pastors from their own congregation, whose salary was supplemented by almost unrestricted power and social status withing the community. Ultimately, the Middle Church was the only one to survive because it remained linked to the wider community of Anglican Churches, which supported when the area was financially devastated by aging demographics,wars, and economic downturns.

The social interaction is the primary reason many people attend RW each Sunday. How many Fargo churches have people drive 75 miles to church on Sunday morning.  "We need to see our friends who understand our problems...." (couple from Valley City, ND)