{"id":7218,"date":"2019-03-24T14:52:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T18:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7218"},"modified":"2019-03-24T15:11:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T19:11:02","slug":"five-surprising-things-about-church-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7218","title":{"rendered":"Five Surprising Occurrences At Church In The City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the thing. I knew church in the city would be cool. There are several well known options I had visited and loved before I even moved here, options such as The Brooklyn Tabernacle and Redeemer Presbyterian. The trouble isn&#8217;t so much not having a church to attend, but rather, having too many options to make a choice! Do I attend the one that&#8217;s closer by, or the one with more comfortable pews (come on, you think about that too), or the one founded by Dr Keller, or the Brooklyn Tabernacle with the most wonderful music?! While I decide, I&#8217;m just working in a ton of services- morning at this one and evening at that one and prayer meeting at this one and a discussion panel at the other one, and eventually I&#8217;ll settle down. As I write this I&#8217;m actually killing time at a lovely coffee shop between a morning service at the Brooklyn Tab and a jazz evening service at Redeemer Upper West Side.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, I knew church in the city had the potential to be wonderful. But what I did not know was just how interesting and full of surprises it would be! For instance, so far I have already:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Been present at a wedding at Tuesday night prayer meeting for a couple that couldn&#8217;t afford a church wedding, so Pastor Cymbala just married them right in the middle of prayer meeting. The cheering was very loud.<\/li>\n<li>Been told I have an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7199\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amish aroma<\/a>. I already told you that, but it&#8217;s worth mentioning again. Lol.<\/li>\n<li>Been told by a Jewish atheist at the &#8220;Questioning Christianity&#8221; meeting I went to that I <em>look<\/em> like such a Christian. It may have been an insult coming from him, but I&#8217;ll take it. I was also guessed to be part of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, to which I replied, &#8220;In my DREAMS!&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Had the pleasure of witnessing a dance presentation put on by a group of young girls. They were dressed in white from head to toe and did a simply lovely dance as the huge choir sang a resurrection song behind them. I didn&#8217;t want it to end.<\/li>\n<li>Run into Tim Keller in the hallway when I wasn&#8217;t at all expecting it. He smiled and said hi, and I fangirled a little to myself, I&#8217;ll admit. His sermons are one of my favorite podcasts, and he manages to hit the nail on the head with clear, concise, and biblical teaching on many super relevant topics. So it kind of made my day to almost meet him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li>Another bonus thing I didn&#8217;t expect about church in the city was how much I would want it. Sure, I enjoyed going to church in North Carolina and especially being part of the worship team, but in a life full of Christian friends and a Christian work environment and good conversations with good people anytime I pleased, it felt more like a nice thing you do because it&#8217;s good to do. And that, even though I very much loved my church. But here, where I have no friends and where I work in a secular place and don&#8217;t really have a life, man, church is life! I go and even though I&#8217;m surrounded by strangers every time, they&#8217;re strangers who love Jesus (and if you&#8217;re at Brooklyn Tab, strangers who give you hugs, which is awesome). It feels like a safe refuge where I can let my guard down for a little while, and it&#8217;s the best part of every week.<\/li>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the thing. I knew church in the city would be cool. There are several well known options I had visited and loved before I even moved here, options such as The Brooklyn Tabernacle and Redeemer Presbyterian. The trouble isn&#8217;t so much not having a church to attend, but rather, having too many options to make a choice! Do I attend the one that&#8217;s closer by, or the one with more comfortable pews (come on, you think about that too),&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7218\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[462,92],"tags":[465,466,467,450,174,457],"class_list":["post-7218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-in-nyc","category-relationships","tag-amish-in-the-city","tag-church","tag-community","tag-moving","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc-newbie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/8eda60e0-2269-41d0-99ac-239e694b942f-11069-000005e0411c7c9f.jpg?fit=1000%2C667","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8A8kG-1Sq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8346,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=8346","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":0},"title":"Three Years Down, Thirty To Go","author":"Rachel","date":"June 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Have I mentioned that I moved to New York City for one year? When I packed up my small-town life and came up here on a hope and a prayer, I always thought I'd stick it out for at least one year, because anything less just isn't giving it a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brooklyn Tabernacle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brooklyn Tabernacle","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=511"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/DSF2593.jpg?fit=951%2C634&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7461,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7461","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":1},"title":"A Post That Is Not About the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir","author":"Rachel","date":"September 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When I learn something new that particularly delights me, I want to share it with the whole world, over and over and over. After I started dance lessons a year or two ago I couldn't shut up about HOW MUCH FUN it was, and how everyone should try it. (I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Downtown adventures&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Downtown adventures","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=86"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_9795.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_9795.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_9795.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_9795.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_9795.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8176,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=8176","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":2},"title":"Together Again","author":"Rachel","date":"July 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, there are no words. That's how it feels when I consider Sunday, our first service back at church after sixteen months apart. Was it was only a dream, or was it the last sixteen months that were a bad dream from which I suddenly awoke? I find it a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brooklyn Tabernacle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brooklyn Tabernacle","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=511"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-pixabay-45842-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-pixabay-45842-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-pixabay-45842-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-pixabay-45842-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/pexels-pixabay-45842-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C960&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7335,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7335","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":3},"title":"Catching Up","author":"Rachel","date":"June 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Contrary to appearances, I am alive and not dead. When I planned to move here, I thought, I'll have so many adventures and stories to tell, and since I won't have any friends, I'll have all the time in the world to write them! I planned to write voraciously, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life in NYC&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life in NYC","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=462"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/IMG_8743.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7726,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=7726","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":4},"title":"What&#8217;s It Like To Sing In the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir?","author":"Rachel","date":"February 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Since so many of you are just dying to know what it's like to sing in my lovely li'l choir (and by \"so many of you\", I mean precisely one little cousin), I thought I might give you a bit of a rundown of what it's like behind the scenes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Brooklyn Tabernacle&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Brooklyn Tabernacle","link":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?cat=511"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/img_9406.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/img_9406.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/img_9406.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/img_9406.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/img_9406.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8083,"url":"http:\/\/www.stripedpineapple.com\/?p=8083","url_meta":{"origin":7218,"position":5},"title":"Coffee Shops and Train Crazies","author":"Rachel","date":"February 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello fellow citizens of this planet, and greetings from cold and snowy Queens. 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