Faith Matters: A temporary home while we build the next ‘brisk tempo’ congregation

Ever go channel surfing? Other than you cable bill, it’s a free vacation.

There we were, the dog and me, couch-potatoes on a worn leather sofa, cruising along.

Once in a while, the dog would bark. Other times, she’d run up to the screen and whine.

It was, however, the howl emitted by that fluffy little white generic ball of fur when Leonard Bernstein’s “Young People’s Concert” showed up on the screen that got my attention.

It was from 1959. The scary part was, I remembered the broadcast. It was part of the Saturday morning ritual at our rural Midwest home: “Wanna watch cartoons? Great. After that, Lennie’s on – and you’re not leaving that sofa till it’s over!”

There were no channel changer wands in those days. You had to go all the way across the living room to the TV to turn the dial. And if you dared try, my Mom would intercept you.

So I sat and watched. Reluctantly.

And then Maestro Bernstein raised his baton and said, “Allegro!”

The symphony orchestra swooped into action to his ever-nimble beat. A shake of the head, a darting glance from the top of his brow, a deft left-wrist crack, and I was hooked. How could you not, watching the man who wrote “West Side Story,” the score from “On the Waterfront” and the operetta “Candide.”

We all have our musical tastes and styles, most of them acquired. To me, even if it was first maternally shoved down my throat, it wasn’t pop or rock, it was the classics.

Today, I am, and we are, the classics – particularly if you live in Bradenton.

Pretend if you want, but the truth is we are an older population, with older tastes. And if there’s one thing we know, despite the adages with which you were raised, old dogs can learn new tricks.

Which is part of what our church is now doing.

We sold the building, you see, after 60 years in the same location.

And now we’re on the move.

We’re not treading slowly. Our tempo is brisk.

Our movements aren’t belabored, they’re considered.

And our theology isn’t literal, it’s fluid.

We’re the first denomination in the United States to ordain African-Americans (1785), women (1853), and people who are openly gay (1972).

We’re the first to fight for the right to get an education, vote, and marry the person you love, one’s skin color or sex or religion notwithstanding.

We’re the first to advocate for people with disabilities, to advocate a social gospel, stand with farm workers fighting for a living wage, speak out against apartheid and push for environmental rights.

One of our pastors, Reinhold Niebuhr, wrote the prayer you say if you go to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. You know, the one that goes, “God grant me the serenity …”

Now, we’re going to continue that tradition by moving down the road apiece and, with great thanks to two of our members, staging ourselves in our temporary home while we plan where and when we’re going to build the next “brisk tempo” congregation.

It all starts this Sunday at 10 a.m. when we meet at 241 Whitfield Ave., on the southern end of Bradenton, alongside Tamiami Trail.

Some people know it as Allegro Music Academy, where Dr. Margaret Goreshnik has been leading our classical musical community for years. She and her husband, Bob Verity, are two of our inclusive members who share that reputation for being the Church of Firsts.

In the musical tradition of Leonard Bernstein, they’ve welcomed us in for a while.

Be there. The tempo will be brisk.

The Rev. Dr. Robert Sichta, Congregational United Church of Christ in Bradenton and can be reached by calling 941-756-1018 or e-mailing PBKAlpha1@gmail.com. Faith Matters is a regular feature of Saturday’s Bradenton Herald, written by local clergy members.