HokiePundit

New Church?

As anyone who's been reading knows (and has heard to death), my denomination, the Episcopal Church USA, has betrayed backstabbed ...gone astray, and I no longer feel comfortable going to most Episcopalian/Anglican churches. The nearest orthodox church to school appears to be an hour away in Roanoke, so most of the time I've simply either not gone to church of just gone to NLCF, though rarely. However, two weeks ago my friend Mark invited me to come to the house church where he goes, which that week was being held at his parents' house in town. It's essentially four or five families and a few college students who formerly went to Blacksburg Christian Fellowship (BCF), a large non-denominational church in town. They felt it was too impersonal, and about two months ago started their own house church. It's basically like a large Bible Study, with singing and Communion afterwards. After the "service," there's several hours of socializing, which is nice. While I may be a sacramentalist, I'm not a sacerdotalist, and it's nice to go to a church that actually serves the Eucharist. The teaching is pretty solid, and the people are pleasant and friendly. I went back last week (at a different family's house), and will go back again in three weeks, since I'm camping this weekend and going home for Easter the one after that.

It's not a "beautiful" service like many Anglican ones, but sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good, and these services are good. For me, it's an answer to prayer to simply have a solid church where I can worship in good conscience and be a part of the community. That's something that I've pretty much always been lacking, and it's very nice to finally feel like that missing space has finally been filled.