why baptists normally don't hold church services on Friday night...

*disclaimer...this was not written to defend or offend any one denomination...merely an attempt to somehow reconcile my Catholic upbringing with my current Baptist situation, and to somehow make sense out of my own faith*

I went to a Good Friday service at my church tonight. I was raised Catholic, and holy week is actually something that the Catholics do quite well. There is nothing like a Good Friday mass at a Catholic church to make you take a good long look at the cross. The service I went to tonight, however, was not at a Catholic church. It did have communion, and I was grateful for that part of worship. This church does not have communion often, which I think is sad. Communion is something that I feel should be an integral part of worship among fellow believers. It is a very intimate time, a reminder not only of sacrifice and covenent love, but also of the sustaining life that we experience in Christ. That being said, I think it cheapens it slightly to reiterate over and over again that the wafer and grape juice are merely symbols. I understand that transubstantiation (where the Catholics believe that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ) is a hard doctrine to swallow (no pun intended) as a Baptist, but I think they carry it a little too far to the other side. Is there some middle ground somewhere? And I hesitate a little to criticize, because I want the Baptist church to have communion more often, so I applaud the fact that they offered it tonight. I was left feeling a little unsatisfied with the grape juice, though, and am sipping my glass of wine as I write this.

I also had the privilege of sitting next to an obnoxious drunk during the service, which again brought me back to my days as a Catholic. At first I thought this person might have been a little hard of hearing, since she was probably in her late 50s or early 60s and talking pretty loudly before the service, but then I could smell the unmistakable smell of ethanol emanating from her. I caught myself being judgmental at first, but then I started smiling. I was truly glad she was there. I liked watching the people turn around in disgust and look at her as she made loud comments during the service. I almost defended her when the deacon shushed her as he passed out "the elements." I think she may have been disappointed when she found out that the grape juice was, um, unfermented. It turns out that she was Episcopalian. I haven't had that much fun at this particular church in a long time. I wanted to invite her out for a glass of wine afterwards, but I guess that would be "enabling."