What's the Best Way to End a Sunday?

A beautiful last Sunday in Nashville

I can't believe the weekend's already over, and I also can't believe this weekend was my final weekend at VSA. Time is such a silly thing. 

Prayer is essential in a church.

This morning, the Lived Religion class and I visited Edgehill United Methodist Church. Like many of the other religious site visits with this class, it was a different experience for me. To me, a Methodist church is like Catholicsm reformed, but I guess that's what it's supposed to be, because that's how Protestantism came about. In terms of the structure of the service, I thought it fell somewhere between the super structured and ritualistic Catholic Cathedral mass and the loosely structured Watson Grove Historically Black Missionary Baptist Church service. It was interesting to see only female ministers. In fact, my teacher, Ms. Carolyn Davis, is a minister for this congregation, which is partially why she took us here I'm guessing.

You can tell that Edgehill is a very, VERY accepting church. They emphasized everywhere inside and outside of their church that they're an accepting church and welcomes everyone. In fact, on the Edgehill sign, there is a small symbol of the gay flag to show that Edgehill accepts homosexuals. I don't think I've ever seen a church so open about accepting gays in their congregation. Don't get me wrong; I know many churches that accept people of any sexuality. However, I've never seen a church so brave to publically display just how accepting they are. I'm glad they are so accepting, and I hope they carry this mind-set forever.

Other than how accepting Edgehill is, I really didn't feel much of a connection with this church as I did with the other site visits I've had with my class. I honestly would rather go to a Catholic Church, if many of the communal prayers are derived from Catholic ones. Being in the middle of structured and non-structured just feels a little weird to me. No matter how I felt, it was still a great experience to not only go to church on Sunday, but also embrace another community and its culture in the South.

Outside Edgehill

 In the afternoon, most of us at VSA went to the Opry Mills Mall. The mall was enormous, and there was only one big floor. The mall was pretty much a gigantic circle, forcing you to pass by many different stores and places with food in order for you to go to that one store you want to shop at. The mall was brand-new--only just opening in the Spring. I still had a great time, even though I didn't buy anything.

Entering the mall

Walking through

Nice cafeteria, am I right?

Some of "the guys"

The highlight of my day, however, was when I went to the one of the films showing for the "VSA Film Festival" for free-time. This showing was called "Terrible Movie Night", and the title says it all. Well, the actual title of the movie we watched was Dragon Wars. It was definitely the worst movie I've ever watched, but it was also the most hilarious movie I've ever watched. It was so terrible that it was the best movie ever made. What made this movie so funny was how complicated the plot was, yet it didn't matter at all. There were perhaps three flashbacks within a flashback in this movie, which made it hilarious. It was also extremely funny when the film teacher--who was commentating "terrible things" as we watched the film--pointed out that even the characters in the movie kept questioning the plot a total of at least eleven times (which he counted every time it happend) in the movie. I thought Dark Knight Rises was the perfect movie to end an evening, but I was wrong. Dragon Wars was the perfect movie to end an evening.

The weather forecast says that this week will be hot and sunny. This should be a nice break from all the crazy thunderstorms we've been having here. Well, it's time to make this last week worthwhile!