Walked out

For the second time ever I walked out of church. Quite something for a compliant wanting-to-please type person. Maybe the Friday Five heightened the sense of looking for perfection. It was so weird. (The first time I was in a 2 hour parking space and the service had continued for over an hour and a half)
Away from home for a work-related conference, awake in time for breakfast at hotel and read of Cheryl's brilliant article, asked concierge about churches in the vicinity and was informed of one a couple of blocks away.
Actually as I approached there were two church buildings virtually side-by-side. A glance in the window showed elaborate robes and stuff and I assumed this must be the Catholic version - until I saw the Protestant sign outside.
Inside to a friendly welcome. And shuffled upstairs because there would not be room downstairs. Looking down on a fairly full sanctuary with still a lot of empty seats (they would do well to install a system which actually indicates that there are seats left). Processed in the Bible and some symbol of the Jesus' Seminar (does that have an apostrophe - I don't know). The weirdest part was when the sermon began - all the lights went off except for a spotlight on the speaker. Who had been the only voice in the whole event. And for this reasonably tolerant middle-of-the-road Christian the total emphasis on faith as an illusion which we need because we are weak ... leading on to a list of ways to cope with hard times was just altogether too much ... and along the row in the dark and out the door I went. At number 3.
Lessons:

1. Inclusive language means INCLUSIVE and not pushing one line of thought only.
2. Carefully crafted word-perfect politically correct liturgy cannot replace fire-in-the-belly, conviction, passion, joy and hope.
3. It can never be about me me me (or individualistic hubris)

There were some good words spoken in the event. It's amazing how much of my F5 would get a tick here - theologically coherent, lots of evidence in the announcements of engagement or at least interest beyond Australia, acknowledgement of the first peoples, special care to provide for visitors.
St Paul springs to mind - all this without love clashes and twangs and fails to resonate. Alas!