St. George Crescentwood

December 14, 2008 10:30 am
St. George, Crescentwood Anglican Church, 168 Wilton St. Winnipeg
Reverend Lyndon Hutchinson-Hounsell

WOW.
So this morning I realized I'm three posts behind. I will try to rectify this situation with a blogging onslaught this afternoon.
First up is St. George. I used to drive by this church a couple of times a week, on the way to and from things. I was always a bit intrigued by its architecture; from the outside it looks... square. Symmetrical. Not particularly church-y. Finally I got to see what it was like inside, and I must admit I didn't take to what I saw. The inside of the church is square. And gray stone walls, ceiling and floor. The only color comes from the stained glass window, which is excellent, and also square.
I couldn't help but think, this is kinda like worship in the Death Star.

It took a while for the place to fill up and my final tally was no more than 150 people. Generally older folks and a few families (one of which sat behind me and chatted about pregnancy and goldfish, among other things, throughout the entire service. Nice.) Just like when I visited Saint Margaret's Anglican, there were more "participants" at the front than I could find names for. (Deacon, Lectors, Intercessor, etc.)

The choir was in a loft behind and above us, which meant their sound projected great out through the church. I always like to watch the choir so by the end I had a crick in my neck, but the choir was great anyways. The organ was up there too, smooshed unceremoniously into a corner.

The service itself was very nice. Lots of singing, lots of praying, all in the traditional format. Rev. Donald McKenzie did the sermon. Predictably he talked about keeping Jesus in Christmas in among all the holiday hustle-and-bustle (read: shopping and consumerism). He kept it really fresh, bringing new arguments to the table and presenting everything really nicely. Rev. McKenzie was a fine speaker.

A note, and anybody who knows more about this please let me know: at the beginning of the service during the lighting of the advent wreath, a group of elderly ladies stood to recite the "story" of the candles, as is done in most churches, I believe. They spoke clearly and well and then sat down. Thing is, they were billed in the order of service as the "Dragon Ladies." What??? A quick traipse through Google told me that "Dragon Lady" is an offensive stereotypical name generally applied to East Asian women, and that there is a description in Revelations 17-18 of a woman riding a beast, called a "Dragon Lady" on some translations. Neither of these seem like nice names for the elderly women of a congregation. Clarify, please.

But I digress. Without a doubt I enjoyed the content of this service; it was a relaxing, traditional kind of service. I just had trouble getting into a mindset of worship in such a cold, unforgiving building.

http://www.stgeorges.mb.ca