Attending a Religious Ceremony, Term Paper Example

I attended a religious ceremony at the First United Baptist Church. This service took place on October 28, 2013. The church is located in a rural community. The building was very lovely. It was a brick dwelling that was newly built. The member there informed me that they just completed their dedication services last Thanksgiving. The sanctuary has high ceilings and stained glass windows. The sanctuary is very spacious, but instead of pews there were upright padded seats. These seats were quite uncomfortable. They are very close together which makes for cramping legs. Everyone seated themselves and very few people were taking notes. Most people were very attentive, but some of the younger people were using electronic devices. The speaker was very charismatic. He moved throughout the sanctuary during his delivery. The factor that contributes mostly to the attentiveness of the audience was the fact that the speaker is very charismatic.

The speaker is the pastor of the church, Lynn Finch. Prior to this encounter I didn’t know very much about him. He has been the pastor at First United for five years. He lives in the same community. He is married and they have grown children. He is 55 years old. I know that he has been a minister for over 25 years.

The topic of his sermon was “Can these bones live?” This sermon was rendered on a regular Sunday worship service. I attended this service because a very closer friend of mine is a member of the congregation. She has been a member since he has been pasturing there. I am of the Christian faith, so I enjoy attending services where the topics correlate with the teachings of the Bible.

The audience is made up of both African American and Caucasians. There ages range from small babies to the elderly. The oldest member of the congregation is 92 years old. There judge of that particular town is a member and so is the sheriff. There are school teachers, truck drivers, construction workers, and retired people.

The speaker’s basic purpose is to win souls for Christ. He major points from the sermon were: Its never to late to change your life, God sees the best in us, and Christians should help someone else who is down. The message was encouraging to people who were going through trials. The central idea he wanted members to understand was that Jesus can deliver you from any situation.

The speech was very easy to follow. The pastor made it easy to follow by outlining it in the beginning. He stated that there were three main points he wanted the audience to understand. He went through several examples that supported his main points. He used various scriptures to support his points. The various scriptures strengthened his sermon. The fact that he walked among the congregation kept everyone alert. He even called members by name in his sermon.

In conclusion, the experience overall was very pleasant. The church was very lovely. The only negative point was the uncomfortable chairs. The pastor was very charismatic and energetic. He walked among the congregation which kept all members of the congregation alert. He outlined his main points and used scriptures to support them. I enjoyed the sermon.