So What Faith

Greg Smith

My Visit to Trinity Lutheran Church (#2337)

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This past Sunday morning, I was a first time guest at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Oklahoma City.

About Trinity Lutheran

According to the congregation’s about page, Trinity is a community of faith, hope, and love in the heart of Oklahoma City. Just last month their current pastor, Rev. Miranda Searcy, was ordained in the ELCA and installed in this congregation.

Trinity offers one worship service at 10:30am each Sunday.

Trinity Lutheran Church (photo by Greg Smith)

Welcome

I arrived on the church campus about 12 minutes before the service and parked in what appeared to be its sole parking lot. There was no signage indicating where to park or how to find my way to worship. Thankfully, just as I pulled into the lot, I noticed a couple walking through what seemed to be a rather random set of double doors. I decided to follow them. Once inside, I realized the sanctuary was at the end of the hallway.

As I made my way toward the sanctuary, I noticed a stack of bulletins and helped myself to one. When I entered the sanctuary, only one person had taken a seat in the pews. Several worship leaders, including the pastor, were already seated. As people slowly made their way into the sacred space, a few glanced in my direction, but no one greeted me or offered a verbal welcome.

The service began promptly at 10:30 a.m.

Worship

The 81 minute worship service was a traditional liturgical Lutheran experience. The only two elements that were other than as expected were outliers because of their length. First, the announcements lasted a full 10 minutes. Second, the children’s message also lasted 10 minutes.

Worship Service (photo by Greg Smith)

The bulletin provided a helpful outline of the service but did not include the music. Since there are no screens in the sanctuary, full participation required opening a hymnal and repeatedly juggling it along with the large bulletin.

Cantor Leads Responsorial Psalm (photo by Greg Smith)

During the welcome, Pastor Miranda Searcy introduced herself and shared her pronouns. The announcements that followed seemed clearly intended for insiders, and the service itself presumed a familiarity with both Lutheran worship and this congregation’s particular practices around Communion. Neither the bulletin nor anything said during the service provided additional guidance for those who might be unfamiliar with either.

Pastor Miranda Searcy Reads the Gospel (photo by Greg Smith)

Pastor Searcy opted to set aside the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost in favor of the newer, optional Creation in Christ Sunday. In their children’s message, they read the second creation account and invited comparison with the first creation story, which was among the day’s Scripture readings.

Their 11-minute sermon began with a reflection on how, as a nonbinary person, they hear the creation story differently. Rather than understanding references such as day and night as establishing a binary, they pointed to the many other times of day encompassed by those words, such as dawn and dusk. The message ultimately focused on humanity’s role as co-creators with God.

Trinity Campus (photo by Greg Smith)

My primary interaction with the 35 people in attendance came during an extended passing of the peace. Each greeting was a variation of, “The peace of Christ be with you.” Notably, it was during this time that Pastor Searcy introduced themself to me and asked whether we had met previously.

Additional Oklahoma Worship Experiences

My experience of worship at Trinity Lutheran was my second time to worship in Oklahoma this year and my thirteenth time in the last three years. My prior experiences include: