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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Spotlight on Evangelical Christianity IV: My visit to Park Street Church


Not all evangelical churches include ecstatic worship like Jubilee, nor are all evangelical   churches anti-intellectual. Park Street Church was founded in 1809 and ever since it has been a major part in the intellectual life of Boston. At the time of Park Street’s founding there was a Boston based debate between Unitarians and the Trinitarians. The congregants of Park Street decided that they would found a Trinitarian, specifically Congregational, Church. 

What is Congregationalism? It is a form of church governance which allows each church to determine its own leadership structure. Often the leadership in these churches are non-hierarchical, where the lead minister is not overburdened with all of the leadership decisions. The senior minister of Park Street, Gordon Hugenberger, proudly told me that if I really wanted to know about the workings of the church I should ask the congregation and some of the other leaders.

Park Street Church is such a fixture in downtown Boston that many people walk past it without realizing it is a working church. As you enter, there is a large modern room straight ahead, complete with high tech screens for announcements. Displayed on one wall is a quilt depicting the history of Park Street Church. Just past this quilt is a small library and a description of future foreign missions needing volunteers. The sanctuary is located on the second floor and has an old fashioned appearance complete with organ pipes, old, but well maintained, pews, and a balcony. In the morning service, most of the seating in this large sanctuary was filled with congregants. With a weekly attendance of 2000, Park Street Church is technically a megachurch.

The service started with worship, but the choir was away at retreat, so in the morning service the congregation was the only source of music. The worship consisted of traditional hymns sang in a traditional fashion. There were a few who threw themselves into the worship, but mostly people just stood and sang.

The title of the sermon was 'Why the Bible'? Rev. Dr. Gordon Hugenberger. Hugenberger started the sermon talking about romantic relationships and how conversation dwindles over time the longer one has been married. He then compared this relationship with one's relationship with God and how reading the Bible is necessary for this relationship with God.  

Sometimes the term 'Bible' is used to denote authority (i.e. the Bible of Gardening). Based this usage, we understand that the term 'Bible' indicates comprehensiveness, authoritativeness, and an ability to be understood by both expert and novice. The Bible is a comprehensive, authoritative, and understandable guide to a spiritual and moral life. Unlike the Vedas and Buddhist Sutras written by 'religious geniuses,' the Bible claims divine inspiration, which is the source of its authority. Later holy books, such as the Quran and the Book of Mormon copy the Bible in their attempt to be comprehensive, authoritative, and understandable.  

According to Hugenberger, the Bible, in its comprehensiveness, authoritativeness, and ability to be understood, began with Exodus. This is both the first book written and the first time religion made moral and legal demands. The Ten Commandments was a covenant similar to other governmental covenants written at the same time that Moses lived. God, through Moses, was trying to build a kingdom, not just to have followers who worshiped Him. But, even in the Old Testament there was grace. God did not say 'follow these laws then I will redeem you', God redeemed the people of Israel and then told them the moral rules. Thus, being ethical is merely our gratitude for being redeemed by God. Covenants are relational, and having a relationship with God seems to be the essence of Christianity for Hugenberger. 

After the service I was able to speak briefly with Herman, one of the candidates for a leadership position. He is a lawyer by training and judge by profession. This conversation was exactly what you would expect from a conversation between a philosopher and a lawyer. I asked him my traditional first question "What is religion?" Reluctant to answer this question, he said it depends on definition and who you talk to. Eventually he did answer a couple of my standard questions. In a mostly non-committal way he offered that Christianity was a relationship with God. He also gave a non-committal answer to the question of whether Christianity was a religion. Christianity was more than a religion; it transcends religion. 

The morning service ended around 12:30 and I came back for the 4:00 evening service. The evening service's worship was quite different. Instead of traditional hymns there was a contemporary worship service, with drums, guitars, and even a piano. As they set up, I noticed a guy covered in tatoos, but unfortunately did not see him as a worship leader during the service. The music itself was standard contemporary Christian worship songs and I wondered if the extensive set up was worth it. Like the first service, the congregation's participation in the worship was mostly somber, with a few excited worshipers, including a middle aged black man in the balcony area,

The second sermon had the same title "Why the Bible?," but mostly different content. In this sermon he relayed the struggles of the famous Rev. Billy Graham and how early in his career he was starting to have doubts about the veracity of the Bible. Graham then had a revelation by a tree stump when he was out walking that confirmed his belief in the authoritativeness of the Bible. While its true that you can look into the history of Exodus, find that it does match the covenant structure that kings made, and that God was trying to build a kingdom. You don't really know this until you have the experience.

Like the first service, there was communion, in the first service it was made plainly clear that only those who trust in Jesus and are Christian should partake in the Lord's Supper. In the second service this was more implicit, but was still rather obvious that non-believers were prohibited from this ritual.    

Bottom Line:


Park Street Church would be a great place if you are an educated Christian. Virtually everyone I talked to not only had a Bachelor's, but also either already had a graduate degree or was working towards one. There is also a large Asian contingent and on their website they bill themselves as international. In comparison to Reality, the average age appears to be older. Though there was nothing that wowed me in the services, Park Street Church is historic, well attended, and is generally a solid church. The sermons are scholarly, but that is to be expected given their congregation. Stay tuned for my interview with Associate pastor Walter Kim. 

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