A Church of Christ in Petaluma

This Sunday (May 22nd), I visited A Church of Christ in Petaluma, located at 370 Sonoma Mountain Parkway. Ray McClendon is their pastor, a wonderful man. They have a regular attendance of around 50.

One thing you immediately notice at a Church of Christ - they use no musical instruments for worship. They sing all their songs a cappella, without musical accompaniment. It takes a little getting used to (if you have always gone to church where worship is accompanied with musical instruments), but I was unusally surprised at how good the congregation sang without musical accompaniment - usually in 4 part harmonies. It might be when you have no instrumental accompaniment, you tend to focus more on the singing.

The Churches of Christ follow this tradition because they believe the early Church did not use musical instruments, and because they do not find musical instruments mentioned in the New Testament. There seems to be evidence that the early Church either did not use musical instruments, or at least there is a lack of evidence of using musical instruments.

The Churches of Christ trace their history back to the Restorationist Movement, led by Barton Stone, Thomas Campbell, and his son, Alexander Campell in the early 1800s. (So sometimes it is called the Stone-Campbell movement). They wanted to return the Church to the practices and beliefs of the early church.

A Church of Christ in Petaluma celebrated their Jubilee (50 years) last year in 2010. They used to be at 520 S. McDowell (which is now Suzanne's Dance School). They moved into their current facility in 1994.

St, James Catholic Church - Pastor

This Sunday, I attended St. James Catholic Church, and played in their guitar mass. Since I regularly attend at St. James, this time I will write about their wonderful pastor, Fr. Michael Culligan.

Many stereotypes of Catholic priests present an Irishman with a rich brogue. Father Michael more than meets this meets this image, as he was born in Ireland, attended seminary there at All Hallows Seminary, has a musical brogue to match none, and a love of life and his Lord Jesus.

Pastor Culligan served in various capacities throughout Northern California till he was appointed as the pastor at St. James in 1984, where he has now served for more than 25 years, is at home, and has many wonderful friends.

I love it every time I see Michael. He has a musical tone in his talk, almost a dance in his feet, a kind word to say, and usually something wonderful to impart.

First Presbyterian Church - Polity

This Sunday, I broke my usual routine of visiting another church, and returned to attend First Presbyterian. I did so because they were holding a congregation meeting immediately after the church service, and since I am a member there, I wanted to attend it, participate, and vote.

Various churches and denominations have various forms of church government (called polity). Presbyterians are governed by elders (presbuteros in Greek) elected by the congregation. In Presbyterian churches most of the elders are lay elders (called ruling elders) while the pastor is also an elder (called the teaching elder). They call the Elders the Session (instead of the Board of Elders). The elders and the deacons make up the officers of the church. (The picture to the top left is a picture of the 2010 officers for First Presbyterian.)

Anyway, the Session called this special meeting of the Congregation to consider their motion to dissolve the relationship with pastor, Dave Weidlich, and approve a severance package for him. It followed his resignation. Any such motion usually brings up strong emotions, and they were present at the meeting. However, the meeting was orderly, everyone got to have their say, and a vote was held. I am sad to say the Congregation approved dissolving the relationship, and Pastor Dave will last preach at First Presbyterian on May 15, and then seek where else the Lord will lead him. (You can read Pastor Dave's Goodbye Letter.) This makes me sad. However, I was overall glad about the process, and look forward to see how the Lord leads Dave and how he leads First Presbyterian.