Comment on this report, or find other reports. Our Mystery Worshippers are volunteers who warm church pews for us around the world. If you'd like to become a Mystery Worshipper, start here. Find out how to reproduce this report in your church magazine or website.   1583: Trinity Mennonite, Glendale, Arizona, USA Mystery Worshipper: Amanda B. Reckondwythe. The church: Trinity Mennonite, Glendale, Arizona, USA. Denomination: Mennonite Church USA. They are a member of the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. The building: Actually a collection of buildings in a variety of geometric shapes on a quiet residential street, all connected via a concrete patio. The sanctuary is octagonal with pews on six sides facing a stage. At the back of the stage is a large wooden cross, flanked by two projection screens. A plain small wooden table engraved with the words "This do in remembrance of me" sits in front of the stage. On the table were various items which I thought at first were intended for a communion service, but which in fact had a different purpose, as will be seen. The church: They offer several programs including adult formation, youth fellowships, and a healing ministry. They also support Goldensun, a faith-based residential program for adults with developmental disabilities, and a mission in Sudan. The neighborhood: Glendale is one of the cities comprising the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. It boasts a quaint, compact downtown featuring an assortment of antique shops and other boutiques, but most of Glendale is made up of nondescript residential areas and strip malls. The city is home to Luke Air Force Base, which keeps residents (Miss Amanda included) of nearby communities "entertained" by daily fly-overs of fighter jets in tight formation on training missions. In years gone by, Glendale was known as the ostrich feather capital of the world, as ostriches raised on locally grown alfalfa produced highly prized feathers with a unique luster. The cast: Ms Sheila Yoder led the service. The Revd Hal Shrader, associate pastor for student ministries and adult formation, preached. Ms Yoder wore a brown blouse and light tan slacks of the cut we used to call "pedal pushers." Pastor Shrader wore a black short-sleeved shirt (not clerical) revealing heavily tattooed arms, black slacks, and (oh, the horror) sneakers! The date & time: Sunday, June 15, 2008, 10.30am. What was the name of the service? Worship Service. How full was the building? The sanctuary was almost completely full. I estimated about 300 people. Most were young singles and married couples with children; there were also some older people. A refreshing mix, I thought. Did anyone welcome you personally? The service was preceded by "patio time," an informal get-together out on the patio, where refreshments were served from an open window in one of the buildings. I helped myself to some lemonade and a vanilla cookie with chocolate icing. I walked around a bit but no one paid me any attention. Finally I approached the welcome kiosk and asked the ladies there what an Episcopalian might expect from a Mennonite service. "We don’t always know ourselves what to expect," one of the ladies replied. They each introduced themselves and shook my hand, and gave me some literature about the church and Mennonites in general. I signed the visitors’ roster (and received a nice card in the mail the next week). As I entered the sanctuary, a gentleman smiled, said hello, and gave me a service leaflet. Was your pew comfortable? Yes – upholstered wooden pews. How would you describe the pre-service atmosphere? There was quite a bit of visiting and talking among people once they sat down. Some contemporary Christian music was playing softly over the sound system. As the church became full, I overheard the ushers say, "May I help you find a seat?" to people as they arrived. What were the exact opening words of the service? "Welcome." What books did the congregation use during the service? The service leaflet plus three hymnals: The Hymnal, a Worship Book, which was subtitled "Prepared by Churches in the Believers Church Tradition"; Sing the Journey; and Sing the Story. I did not have a chance to examine the contents in detail, but most of the hymns in all three books seemed traditional. What musical instruments were played? Grand piano, acoustic guitar and bongo drums. An electric organ at the back of the church was not used. There was also a quartet of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. The quartet sang quite well in four-part harmony. The hymns were for the most part traditional but unfamiliar and were accompanied by varying combinations of the aforementioned instruments. Congregational singing, however, was rather timid, I thought. Did anything distract you? There were some very good looking people in the congregation. One young gentleman wore a t-shirt picturing a road sign indicating a very twisty road ahead, with the legend "Psycho Path." Another young gentleman entered carrying a motorcycle helmet. During the children’s time, I made it a point to observe the faces of the youngsters who had gathered at the feet of the young lady making the presentation. From their expressions I concluded that most of them didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about. Was the worship stiff-upper-lip, happy clappy, or what? It was a very loosely structured, light, informal service, but not at all happy clappy. It opened with a series of announcements, but one could easily conclude that the entire service was one long series of announcements. There were lots of hymns, lots of presentations by various people, a few prayers, the children’s time, a sermon, and the final benediction. The children’s time talk was about family, how people join families by birth or by adoption, but also by joining a church, which is our extended family. The talk was followed by a consecration of a family who had recently adopted a little girl they had been caring for as a foster child. I’ll have more to say about this in the heavenly bits below. Exactly how long was the sermon? 24 minutes. On a scale of 1-10, how good was the preacher? 3 – In addition to offending Miss Amanda’s sense of propriety in clerical haberdashery by wearing sneakers, Pastor Shrader carried a cell phone that dangled out of one trouser pocket and kept his hand in the other for the most part. He quoted lots of Old Testament scripture that didn’t seem all that well connected at first (although he eventually managed to connect it all up) and rambled quite a bit, but when he finally got to his point it was a strong one. A good Anglican preacher could have covered the same ground in half the time. And I’m afraid I have to relegate one of the comments he made to the, er, other place, as described below. In a nutshell, what was the sermon about? He took as his text Haggai 1:1-10 (the people ignore God’s command to rebuild his temple, and so their works come to naught). As the philosopher Kierkegaard wrote, how can we expect God to bless our undertakings when they are not in keeping with his will? We cannot heal a broken world by following our own agenda rather than God’s. To what extent have we "sold out" to the world? God always gives us an example of what he wants. He would not give us the responsibility of doing his will if he didn’t think we could do it. Which part of the service was like being in heaven? I was pleasantly surprised by how good the music was, but the most heavenly aspect of the service was the consecration of the family who had adopted the little girl. The father read a prepared speech (which the little girl kept trying to grab out of his hands as her mother held her). Then the parents were asked if they would raise the child as a Christian, and the congregation were asked if they would support the child in her journey toward Christ. It was almost like a baptism without water. Finally, the parents took some salt from a small container on the altar (which I had previously thought held communion elements) and placed it in a larger container. Members of the congregation then did likewise, with all the salt mingling together, and laid hands upon the family. Very lovely and very moving. And which part was like being in... er... the other place? But now for Pastor Shrader’s unfortunate comment. It was Fathers Day, and the pastor began his remarks by expressing the wish that fathers would treat their children better than some Old Testament fathers apparently treated theirs. He gave some examples, and even had the verses in question projected onto the screens. I thought it was inappropriate to make light of scripture in this manner. What happened when you hung around after the service looking lost? A couple that had been sitting near me came over, shook hands, introduced themselves, and asked if I was visiting. We chatted a bit about the loose structure of the service vs a more traditional liturgy. They both hoped that I would return again. Outside on the patio, one of the ladies from the welcome kiosk came up to me and asked me how I had liked the service. Otherwise, though, no one approached me. How would you describe the after-service coffee? The refreshment window that had been open earlier was closed. I walked around a bit looking sheepish and alone, and when it became obvious that no one else was going to talk to me, I left. How would you feel about making this church your regular (where 10 = ecstatic, 0 = terminal)? 4 – It was a relaxed, pleasant experience all in all, but I prefer a more traditional liturgy with more prayer and honor addressed to God rather than to the congregation. Did the service make you feel glad to be a Christian? It didn’t seem that the service had a Christian feel to it per se. For all the emphasis on the Old Testament, it could have been a reformed Jewish service. But it did make me feel glad to be a member of God’s family. What one thing will you remember about all this in seven days' time? The lovely traditional music, especially as sung by the quartet, and the very moving consecration ceremony.   The Mystery Worshipper mug! Order your very own Mystery Worshipper mug in time for Christmas. Click here. 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