Church #3: St. Michaels Catholic Church

On Sunday of this week, I attended the 9:30 service at St. Michael Roman Catholic Church located at 4491 Springfield Road, Glen Allen, VA. The area where the sermon was held was a mid-sized room with Roman style theater seating. There were no large statues of saints lining the wall area nor where there any elaborate decorations. It was quite simple compared to the Catholic churches I'd been to in the past.

Reverand Mr. David Nemetz led the service along with another gentleman which I didn't get his name as it wasn't written in the church bulletin nor is it located on their website http://www.saint-mikes.org/ but he was WONDERFUL. He was an Indian man whose sermon really inspired me to want to be a better, more service-oriented steward.

He challenged each of us to ask ourselves who we were in life and why we thought our life circumstances were unique to us. He said if we are doctors, lawyers, teachers, homemakers, ministers, why did we think we had gained those specific titles as opposed to another profession?

He went on to preach that whomever we were, and whatever titles we held, that if we thought for one second that we were given our blessings because we deserved them, then we were completely missing the boat. I feared that he was going into a direction I had never been a huge fan of. That we are all evil inside and our only goodness was from God. I'd grown up having the same sort of stuff rammed down my throat and it never made it attractive to be a Christian. It always just made me feel bad about myself. The philosophy that we are evil and flawed, constantly falling short didn't ever settle right with me. I'd rather phrase it in the positive...we are good because of God. I was relieved to hear he wasn't instilling fear in us with his sermon instead, he was opening our eyes to the beauty that is service.

For example, if I was a Math Teacher because I enjoyed the act of teaching and was great with numbers, earned my degree, studied my butt off so I could become a licensed teacher because it made me feel really proud of my accomplishment, and even if I was an incredibly great teacher....each daily math lesson would be meaningless. He said (and way more eloquently than me I'll note) that the only way we can be truly successful at the earthly titles that God has given us is if we understand this truth..... I am a teacher, because there is a student who needs to taught by me. I am a plumber, because someone NEEDS me to fix their toilet. Not because I am a gifted, talented plumber with a great business model who is skilled at what I do...but because there's a clogged toilet that only I can fix.

He urged us to do what we do every day with this thought in mind: Who needs what I have to offer? Do what you do joyfully. Serve others with the gifts we are given because there is no greater way to please God. We are not the people we are because it serves us. We are who we are because it serves God.

To love God is to love your neighbor, to love your neighbor is to serve him with the gifts we've been given by the goodness of Heaven. It seems so obvious but sometimes I think we forget. Who do we serve? If the answer is not God, it doesn't matter if we make it on the cover of Fortune, we're missing the real treasure that comes with being of service to others.

After the sermon, I was thrilled to see that I would be witness to the baptisms of several newborn church members. Before it began, I turned to a friend of mine who attends their regularly and she had tears in her eyes. She's usually not what I'd call the emotional sentimental type so I was surprised to see her this way. She leaned in and whispered, "Oh yes! The baptisms are about to start. These always make me cry." I wondered why this moved her so much since these children really had no say so in any of this, but instead, it was supposedly being chosen for them. How could this be beautiful, its not even real until they can understand what it all means. But then, to my surprise, and in the blink of an eye, my heart swelled with love, and my eyes filled with tears. It was beautiful. As the community sang a sweet lullaby, these babies were welcomed into this church with open arms. No judgments, no questions about whether they were truly right with God, no whispers under everyone breath about whether they'd pay their complete tithe this week.... just acceptance.

For a brief moment I wondered if I wanted to be accepted into the Catholic church. Do I want this community to accept me as "good enough" to partake in the sacrament, or baptize my own children with their Holy water? And then once again, the holy spirit eased my brief panic and reminded me that I was already accepted by something even greater than our understanding...and I had to do nothing at all but by His grace, it is already done.

I found from my experience at St. Michael's that this group of people had been blessed with an understanding of what it means to give with a joyful heart and be good stewards of men. They have a jobs assistance ministry called JAM, they support a mission group in Haiti, support 2 boyscout troops, a Knights of Columbus group and more. They make me want to give more of myself to God. This Deacon truly set such a glorious example by giving me a sermon that I NEEDED to hear. I hope and pray that the Lord uses me to serve according to his will.

After the service coffee and donuts were provided for anyone who wanted to stay and chat. Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot the coolest thing of all... (okay maybe not as cool as the gift of service but...)this Catholic church lets you were jeans! I mean, at least 30% of people wore jeans. Adults too, it was not just the kids and teenagers who took advantage of this. I liked the idea of a casual environment. For some reason, I just doubt God is standing up in heaven looking down and saying, "can you believe their wearing jeans?" so I was thrilled to see that it wasn't frowned upon to come as you are.