Nashville Day 1 - Church at Fellowship
I flew into Nashville late last night. I had a back ache once I landed. I think its because I sat on one butt cheek for the length of the flight (due to the little room my fellow passenger provided). I knew I was in trouble when this individual could not fold down the arm rest properly (due to the airline’s small seats and this passanger’s rather larg physique). I sort of “pretzeled” myself in and enjoyed the ride!
Usually I don’t get to see much of the Sunday church life here in Nashville. I’ve been wanting to see my friend Brian’s church - Fellowship - for sometime.
This morning, I arrived on-time, parked in “first time guest,” and then jammed my way across their lawn to this chic, barn looking building. The whole campus feels clean and hip - even a bit artsy - but at the same time non-assuming. I snuck in quick, found a seat, and found the music/worship had already started.
The room was big with lots of people. Most were a bit older. I noticed lots of the people dressed up pretty nice. I didn’t feel like you had to be dressed up - just that people had chosen to dress a bit more “Sunday-ish.” Jason Ingram was leading worship. Lloyd Shadrach was teaching.
As a church, they’ve been studying the book of Thessalonias since January. That long of a study is sort of atypical in Cali. The longest attention span tends to be like 6 weeks. But you know what they say… when in the south… eat fried. Below is a pic of some original artwork made for this series. There were two panels that looked like stained glass. Each panel showed the story of God’s redemptive hand through out human history. It was killer. I wished I could buy the art from them.
I was really struck with all the quality art that they integrated into their church life. They have this story regarding these bright white, shards of porcelain tile that line their sidewalks. I guess congregants wrote a way that they are “broken” as people individually on the back of each piece. The tiles then were cemented into the sidewalks with a verse from Nehemiah. It sort of looks like a sidewalk you’d see in SoCal. Fellowship is conveying the idea that God walks amongst the brokenness - not the polished, sophisticated, perfect. I liked that.
Today Lloyd , the preacher/teacher, did something that I took to be unusual. He read the ENTIRE book of I Thessalonians out loud… 20 minutes straight. I really liked the idea but I tuned out (my apologies to the Apostle Paul and Jesus). That being said Lloyd ended with some really cool thoughts to sum up the 20 minutes of reading.
I liked this one thought the most and took a picture of it. Its a thought centered around God’s “laws” and our obedience. Lloyd’s exact line was, “be careful which side of the equation you put ‘obedience.’” The idea being that if we try and live “perfect” lives all we get is religion. If we live by faith (in Christ) we can actually change spiritually (inwardly) and find a renewed sense of living. It was a cool thought (plus I think I’m just partial to writing on chalk boards).
