No lie, my church experiences in and around Princeton have been pretty disappointing until today. First there was the squishy non-denom service, followed by some unfriendly Episcopalians, some too somber Dutch Reformed, a few friendlier, but crazier Episcopalians, topped off by some PCA boringness. Yes, I'm being critical and judgmental, leave me alone. There were good and bad things about all of the churches I've attended, but none of them really seemed to be a good fit for me or, more recently, for me and Jordan.
But, today, the first Sunday of Advent, we attended Witherspoon Street Presbyterian, a PCUSA church not to far from campus, pastored by a woman from Africa, and we both liked it a lot. The music was good, but not pretentious. The congregants were talking to each other before the service rather than staring straight ahead to avoid eye contact. There was enough high churchiness to please me, but it wasn't too frilly for Jordan to enjoy. And, the liturgy seemed to be modeled on the prayer book, but not taken directly from it. The sermon was well-thought out and scholarly, but not lofty and overly academic.
It was truly refreshing to leave church and feel like it was a place to which I wanted to return. What was especially nice was discovering that Jordan enjoyed it as much as I did. I was beginning to think that we wouldn't ever find a church that both of us could enjoy. The funniest part was that we decided to visit there on a whim. So, I can't say for certain that I will make WPC my church home, but it is the only church in the running so far.
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