iBeth: A Well-Ordered Church

I attended a parents' meeting about the annual Christmas pageant today. This year, Amelia will be a sheep and Emma will be an angel. The meeting was informative and the preparations were clearly in good hands. We finished in time for me to grab some coffee before I helped another mom set out materials for the morning rehearsal. No question about it, these Episopalians seem more organized than the Unitarians at my other church.

While I'm attending the Episcopal church for very good reasons, and I'm a huge fan of our priest who gives wonderful educational and inspiring sermons, I do miss many things about the UU church: the flower communion; the earnestly offbeat celebrations (e.g., on mother's day, moms and daughters would dance around with long flowing scarves); the time when everyone brings water back from special places; the new year's service where we write down something we want to give up and then burn the piece of paper we wrote on; the way we'd celebrate lots of holidays and not just the Christian ones. And the varied and surprising and talented congregation (the Episcopal congregation is talented too, but somewhat less colorful. A small example: the UUers had names like "Meik" and "Mighk" and "Mic." Episcopalians mostly seem to be named "David" but if they have any Michaels I feel certain they will be just plain "Michael" or "Mike." ) Oh, and the UU service contains no affirmations that would make me feel like a hypocrite if I were to say them. And Emma really misses coffee hour (this Episcopal church hosts a breakfast between the two services and we attend the later service so we miss it).

Much as I miss all these things, I admit I don't miss the chaos. More than once I would hear about an event during the announcements part of the service, look for more info on time/place in the newsletter or program, and fail to find it. Sometimes I even traveled to the church for an event only to learn that it had been canceled or rescheduled or no one know exactly where/when it was. And even when events happened, they seemed ad hoc. Will the wiggle room be open after the service starts even though the choir is enrobing in it right now? Will there actually be enough food at the Halloween party or will they run out so early that we ought to eat before we go? When people show up to help lay bricks for the maze, will anyone know where/how to place them or will we just make our best guess? As wonderful as the events were, and as interesting and passionate and generous as my fellow UU parishioners were, I found the uncertainty stressful.

Quite a contrast to this morning's meeting--which followed an agenda!--held in one easily identified location while a team of volunteers wrapped gifts for needy children across the hall--and they had enough tape!-- and another team of volunteers cooked and served breakfast--and had enough cleaning supplies!

What I wonder: is this an idiosyncracy of these individual congregations? Or are Episcopalians generally more organized than Unitarians? And if so, why?

(Caveat: I realize that this account is more reflective of my own hang-ups than any essential quality of either congregation.)