Church visit #1 - Lord of Life Lutheran

I know my intent is to visit Presbyterian churches in the area. Lord of Life is less than five minutes from my home so I visited it out of convence and the fact that I know the youth leadership team there from Luther Seminary. I have been to Lord of Life a number of times, this was not my first visit, but I went this week to hear Pastor Todd, who I took a couple of youth ministry classes from at Luther preach. While I enjoy going to Lord of Life, I think size wise it is too big for me. The worship service is familiar and welcoming, think maybe it reminds me of worship in the chapel at Luther. The one thing I wonder about is building community and a sense of belonging here. They do not do passing of the peace (even during communion, which I thought was part of the LBW communion service, at Luther it was) or have a friendship pad to sign in and pass down the aisle. So you do not know who is worshiping next to you and unless someone goes out of there way to greet you ( which has never occurred in the times I have worshiped at Lord of life) you do not feel welcomed or part of the community you are worshiping with. I think it would be easy to get lost in the crowd at LOL. There must be something that brings me and others back, my sense is it is all that a large church can offer. LOL has lots of small groups and programing for every age and demographic group. I think you could find your niche this way. I do like the feel of the sanctuary. It is bright and full of light. I also have found the music to be very good, some Sat. night I want to go hear their praise music group. I have found the sermons preached to be very insightful and applicable to ones life. I do like the option of all worship times to choose from. It seems they welcome new members almost every week, although I have yet to attend a service where this occurs. Having like 5 Pastor's they tend to rotate the person leading worship each week so if you don't like someones sermons they will probably only preach once a month. Something I really like at LOL is they always end the service with a sending that is their mission statement and therefore reinforces it for the congregation. How many churches can their members recite their mission statement from memory? Communion. while I know this Sacrament is a big part of worship I have strong opinions about the way communion is done and my biggest gripe is the amount of time it takes sometimes. At LOL they do the "stations" for intinction so things move fairly well, especially for the size of the congregation. One thing Lutherans do that I found different and did not like at first is that the congregation sings songs during communion. I always thought special music was played by others and allowed the congregation to focus on when they are to go up and then be reflective when they sit back down. I think the songs with active participation help the time past faster. One thing that I know churches are dealing with in communion us allergies ( gluten) and for Lutherans the wine or grape juice debate. LOL does a nice job of offering grape juice and gluten free wafers at a separate station, so that all do not need to partake in these elements. LoL also has a Pastor who is at one side of the sanctuary during communion who is there to pray with individuals. I really liked that as well. Overall I enjoy worshiping at LOL and probably will continue to do so occasionally, but I would have a hard time joining, not just because it is not Presbyterian.