Posted on 05/01/2007 7:50:10 PM PDT by Terriergal
With outdoor seating, colorful balloons, a menagerie of animals and the smell of food grilling, it was more like a carnival than a church service at Discovery United Methodist Church yesterday.
And when the Rev. Jim Lavender and associate pastor Raymond Rowley, dressed in their clergy robes, rode in on an elephant to start the morning service, it seemed like a ringmaster was about to start the show.
"Why an elephant?" said Lavender, who greeted the crowd with his arms spread wide as he sat atop the 7,000-pound pachyderm named Minnie who was led to the front by elephant handlers.
Elephants are "the biggest thing God has made that walks on two feet . . . And God is bigger than that," Lavender said. He and Rowley got down from the elephant for the rest of the service. Minnie was led back to a corral set up on the church grounds. Lavender competed with Minnie for the attention of many of the children who crowded around the corral before, during and after the service for the chance to pat Minnie or just gaze at her from a distance.
"The elephant likes carrots," said Hannah Crider, 9. Hannah and her brother, Benjamin, 7, were hoping to be able to ride the elephant later.
Hundreds -- perhaps more than 1,000, church officials said -- turned out for the unusual service, held as part of the 25th anniversary of the church that Lavender and others began in 1983 in western Henrico County.
The church, at the corner of Lauderdale Drive and North Gayton Road, was started at a time when the thinking was that nobody would move that far out in the county, Lavender said. The area is now home to numerous subdivisions and is just more than a mile from the busy Short Pump Town Center area.
Lavender said yesterday's service was the fourth time in 25 years he's had a special guest elephant at a service. In his sermon, he talked about overcoming obstacles that seem huge and insurmountable.
"How big is your God?" Lavender asked. "He is big enough to handle anything you are willing to trust in his hands."
After the morning service, the festivities began, including the chance to ride Minnie around the corral.
Caroline Couturier, 11, was one of the first to do so, beating the crowds that formed a long line that eventually snaked around the corral.
"At first it was a little scary," Caroline said after her short ride on Minnie was over. "I want to do it again."
Caroline's mother, Christine Couturier, said her daughter rode the elephant after they both were satisfied that Minnie was being treated well. She questioned the handlers.
"I wanted to know how the animals were cared for," Christine Couturier said.
Other animals, including a bear and a lion that belong to Lavender were on display in cages elsewhere on the church grounds.
Lavender said he grew up around the circus, and for a time considered a career in the ring.
"My only dream was to be the ringmaster of the greatest show on Earth . . . God sent me through the entertainment industry into ministry."
Elephants are the biggest thing God made on two feet? Hope his theology is better than his powers of observation. But I doubt it.
Ask God and watch Him spring into action. The only thing more frightening than elephants in the service is the message.
I’m afraid to ask what the hymn selection was...
Honestly - this sounds like a couple of Southern Baptist churches in the Houston area. Good grief.
'cause the whole point of Noah and the Flood, David's Redemption, The Fall, Christ's Passion was that I am to have a comfortable, cushy life?!?
>> I’m afraid to ask what the hymn selection was... <<
Elephino.
Not too good at math either. The 25th anniversary is NEXT YEAR!
Elephants are at a circus, not a carnival.
Headline writers must live a cloistered life.
Discovery has done this for years. Not many places you could go and see lions and tigers paying their respects to the Christ child.
I don’t know if I like this or not - and I’m a Methodist.
Somehow, it seems like too many Methodist ministers have gone over to turning worship services into carnivals. It happens in my own church and it makes me uncomfortable. I think when this kind of thing happens, the worship of God goes out the window. I think in some circumstances it can be a good thing, but on a routine basis....I don’t know.
JMHO....I’m really pretty much of a traditionalist.
I think it’s a little over the “Big Top” myself. But it seems to work for Discovery. We visited there years ago, but just had tigers.
It just wasn’t the place for us.
I visited there a long time ago. It was communion Sunday and the communion was distributed by having everyone get in line to receive the elements. Then, hustle back to your seat. No time to kneel at the altar if you wanted. I felt like I was in an assembly line. Never went back - didn’t work for me either.
They must be doing something right since they are one of the largest Methodist churches in Virginia. I just wonder if God isn’t lost amongst all the hoopla.
Mac Watson was talking about this yesterday. A member of the church called in and was very supportive of the Pastor and had good thigns to say about the congregation, the worship, etc.
I’m more traditional myself, but I think our problems come when we try to fit God into our box.
I heard some of that discussion.
There was also a caller who was a member of Discovery and not happy with the church. This caller seemed to indicate that there is a lot of turnover in membership. Who knows what’s really true?
Mac was somewhat fair and balanced - for a change.
I didn’t listen very long.
When he started saying that he didn’t grow up with church that way, I just had to change the channel. It’s not like church ~took~ with him...
That’s so true. If there is an opportunity to bash the Catholic church, he will. I get sick of him bashing Christianity just because he hated parochial school. Sheesh, get over it already. That’s why I was somewhat surprised yesterday.
Don’t worry - he’ll be back to his usual obnoxious self any minute now.
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