United Methodist Church, Townsend, Massachusetts

 January 29, 2012 (Sunday 5)
Townsend United Methodist Church
Rev. Joan Anne Westfall
265 Main Street
Townsend, MA 01469
978.597.2486

Church History: Originally the town meeting house, construction began on what is now the Townsend United Methodist Church in 1770 and was completed a year later.  In 1804 the building was moved from its original location to where it is currently located, and in 1852, when the Methodists purchased the church from the Unitarians (who had previously purchased it from the Congregationalists), it was decided to rotate the building 90 degrees so that it would face to the south. The town continued to use the first floor of the structure up until 1894.

Worth noting here is that above the level of the sanctuary, within the tower of the Church, are four narrow pews, called “slave pews”, where African-American worshippers sat. According to the Church website’s history page, this feature is unique to this particular building.

In the more recent past, the decision was made to install vinyl siding on the exterior of the church, and to replace the windows with vinyl windows. Architecturally this has quite a negative impact on the outside of the building, but inside, at least within the sanctuary, the floor, walls, ceiling, and pews are quite old, and overall it is quite beautiful.

Affiliation: United Methodist Church (12 million members)

Sunday’s Service: The service began at 9:30 am with some brief announcements, followed by a greeting ot the congregation. The small choir sang a hymn from the choir loft, and then it was time for the call to worship, where the liturgist and the congregation alternated in a brief reading.

The singing of a hymn from the hymnal followed the call to service, and then the passing of the peace, where the congregation greeted each other. Following that, the liturgist gave the prayer of invocation, which was also a reading that alternated between the liturgist and the members of the congregation. Next, the children were called forward, and there was a brief section where the pastor addressed the children directly, which was called “A Time for the Child in All of Us”. After that, the children left to sanctuary to attend Sunday School.

The liturgist then again led the congregation, this time in a joint prayer identified as a “Prayer of Confession”. The congregation then sang another hymn, and Rev. Westfall indicated that it was to to share joys and concerns, where individual member of the congregation could voice their joys or concerns, for example, requesting prayers for a family member in crisis. At the end of this part of the service, Rev. Westfall led the congregation in the Lord’s Prayer.

Next was the offering, followed by reciting the Doxology, and then a unison reading of an Offertory prayer.

A reading of 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, and then Mark 1:21-28, was followed by a hymn and then it was time for the sermon.

Rev. Westfall referenced the beginning of Christ’s ministry as recounted within the Gospel of Mark; Christ’s baptism by his cousin John, the temptation of Jesus, the calling of his first disciples, and then in Capernaum, where Christ casts out an unclean spirit from a man in synagogue on the Sabbath, and Christ’s authority in addressing the synagogue with his teachings.

This excerpt from the beginnings of Mark served as Rev. Westfall’s jumping off point, where she made an analogy between the mythical (or very real) demons encountered during Christ’s times, with the more figurative demons we encounter today, be they alcohol or drugs, food, materialism, or whatever.  The point Rev. Westfall was driving at is that it is difficult to fight these demons, but with the help of Christ, the fight can be won. Christ has the power to drive out demons, you need to first identify the demon and then allow Christ to drive it out.

She then spoke briefly about the first three steps of a twelve-step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous. These first three steps are:

1. Admitting powerlessness over the situation; that our lives had become unmanageable;
2. Belief that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity; and
3. Making a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.

She went on to indicate that the first two steps are essentially, without the third step, nothing more than “intellectual gymnastics”. The third step, turning over your life to Jesus, is the key to being able to cast out your own personal demons, as=. God can drive out our demons, but not without our help. We must acknowledge that we cannot do it alone. After sharing, in very general terms, her own story of personal redemption,  she invited members of the congregation to share theirs, and several people took the opportunity to share their thoughts at this point.

Finally, she mentioned a quote she ascribed to author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, who wrote words to the effect of “Church is like a hospital. Everybody is at a different level of healing”. Lewis may well have been paraphrasing St. Augustine, who said that

… the church is like a hospital filled with sick people; but people who are seeking to be healed, and confident that the Great Physician can heal them.

On this note, the sermon came to a close and the congregation sang another hymn. After that, the entire congregation, including the children who returned to the sanctuary from their Sunday School activities, joined hands in a large circle to sing one final hymn, called “Bind Us Together”.

My Thoughts: While I was raised in what can only be described as a non-religious family, my mother was raised as a Methodist, and I was baptised as a Methodist when I was a baby. So far as I can recall, this is the first time in fifty-three years that I’ve been back inside a Methodist Church. I chose this particular Methodist Church to attend because of the long and interesting history of the building. I was glad I was able to visit.

What stood out for me in this service was that when the greeting took place between members of the congregation, everyone made a point to greet and shake hands with everyone present, and not just with people who were sitting nearby. Also, at the end where everyone formed a single large circle among the pews and held hands while singing together–that was a very nice touch.

Apparently Rev. Westfall splits her Sundays between this church and another Methodist church in nearby Pepperell, so she left immediately after the service and I was not able to speak with her. But at the end of the service I did speak briefly with a few of the church members, and before the service a couple of other members made a point of seeking me out to say hello. I felt very welcome and at ease at this service.

I really liked the way that the younger children were given a part in the service, and that Sunday School for them was concurrent with the remainder of the service. I think that generally small children don’t have the patience for an hour-long sermon, and the way it was handled here,  by having their Sunday School happen during the service, worked out well, for children and adults alike.

That said, for me the subject of this particular sermon did not resonate with me (despite my inexplicable addition to Diet Coke), although Rev. Westfall’s delivery was quite good. This was probably my own fault, as the subject matter drove me to consider my good friendship with a life-long atheist who conquered his own substance addiction several decades ago absent supernatural intervention.

Without studying the issue, I would guess that this denomination, the Methodists, are clearly more conservative than either the Unitarian-Universalists I visited last week or the UCC church I visited in week one. Nevertheless, they are also clearly a more liberal denomination than are either the Assemblies of God church or the Evangelical Covenant Church that I have also attended previously. The Methodists appear to me to be firmly middle-of-the-road.