Double-Entry Field Notes

Mt. Moriah Temple Baptist Church

April 11, 2010
9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sunday School:

I arrive early and tiptoe into what seems to be

an empty hallway. I can hear the low murmur
of the Sunday school Teacher’s meeting in the
back room. I walk into the sanctuary and stand
alone in the middle aisle, taking in the bright, I think the purple sash is for Lent. Perhaps
quiet room. The wooden cross is draped with a someone has forgotten to take it down?
purple sash.

I decide to explore the front hallway and the

kitchen—an area I have not spent much time
in. I exit the sanctuary through the side door
and run into Sister Louise Tanner. She is
dressed in a light pink suit made out of a shiny I will notice that most of the women are
pink fabric with a subtle flower pattern in the dressed in bright spring colors. I feel out of
weave. She’s wearing white heels. Her hair is place in my customary black and grey
neatly set in curls. She takes my hand to ensemble. My shoes are scuffed even though I
welcome me and I follow her back into the tried to polish them.
sanctuary to wait for S.S. to start.

I sit next to LT in the second pew. She says
that I should sit there for the class, but I’ll need
to move when church starts. There’s a woman
who comes every Sunday and “that pew has
her name on it.”
There are unspoken rules in this church—
social customs that I need to find out so that I
can observe them. I notice, as the other ladies
come in, that everyone sits in the same seat as
last week. Where do I fit in? Fortunately, LT
seems to have appointed herself as my guide.

I notice that LT has a book titled the KJV
Standard Lesson Commentary 2009-2010. She
says, “My son gave me this. It really helps
me.”
So far, I have seen churchgoers taking notes in
Bibles, the Sunday school booklet, personal
composition books, the Worship Program, and
supplemental resources like this book. I would
estimate that adult Sunday school students
spend anywhere from 10 minutes to over an
hour studying for the lesson each week.

When Jimmy Breeze comes in to start the
Sunday school opening, he hands us our
Worship programs. LT immediately writes her
name on the cover of hers.
LT opens her Sunday school booklet, and I
noticed that today’s lesson is also marked up—
words are circled, passages underlined, and
there are notes on top of the page.
Harry Turner rings the bell to signal the
beginning of Sunday school and we get up to
sing the Sunday school song. Everyone knows
the words except for me. The song isn’t
printed anywhere.
After HT reads the introduction, we split up
into classes and begin our lesson on I John 2.
The teacher starts out by talking about the
beautiful spring day outside, the different
shades of green in the leaves, and the season of
rebirth after winter. We move into the text and
she comments, “when you study, you always
find something beautiful and new, each time
you read it.”
At one point in the lesson, we are discussing
In this case, a younger family member is
helping support the religious education of an
older family member. Within families,
educational support is fluid.
I don’t ask LT if she saves these programs, but
I’m 95% sure she does. She makes notes on it
throughout the service.
During the Sunday school class, almost
everyone is taking these types of notes. During
the sermon, at about 50% of the congregation
seems to be taking notes.
This happens during the service too. Members
who attend regularly seem to know the words
to most of the hymns that are rotated through
the services.
I love the Sunday school song. “Go to Sunday
school. Go to Sunday school!”
Students often refer to other relevant passages
lust of the eyes. LT gives the example of
David and Bathsheba.
When Sunday school started, there were only 5
people, but there were 15+ by the time we
reconvened for the closure.
It’s the men’s group’s turn to provide the
summary of the lesson. Jimmy Breeze, the
Sunday school superintendent, comes up to the
podium. LT whispers to me, “he’s good!”
JB remarks that the lessons normally move
through Bible book by book, but this is the
only reading from I John. It is the “love
epistle” because of the number of times it says
the word love. He says that this book was
written in 90 A.D. when the church was very
young. “What happens when you start
something new? A new club? The charter
starts to change.”
JB tells a story about a day that he ate cake for
breakfast lunch and dinner. This is a sin of the
flesh. We all laugh at the story.
from the Bible. The text is viewed as having
unifying elements throughout. I am constantly
being surprised by how quickly these women
can recall and quote scripture.
HT mentioned that he is always trying to get
people to come on time. Rather than have to
cut the service short because we start late, the
service just continues as long as it needs to,
generally until 1 p.m. or so. This is different
from the Methodist church I attended growing
up. There, everything was carefully timed out.
Here, if the choir is improvising and the
congregation is charged up with energy, a
hymn can go on until it winds down naturally.
The service is structured the same way every
week, but no one is keeping time. Instead, the
enthusiasm of the choir and the preacher and
the responses of the congregation determine
how the service will go. Today was very high
energy—a lot of improvisation and
participation.
Providing the historical setting and a
contemporary example to contextualize the
lesson.
Using humor to make a point
JB asks the group what a question of the JB is not parsing words. He honors different
commandments. There are similar responses ways of describing the same concept.
phrased in different ways: “Love all men…”
“Do unto others…” He accepts them as the
same answer.

We look at our Bibles to review the ten
commandments. Most people bring their own
Bibles, but I use the Bible in the pew. The ten
commandments are already highlighted. Later,
when we turn to a different section of the text,
I find that it is highlighted with a date written
above it in pen.
Church members like to keep a record of what
they learned and when they learned. Writing
pins down abstract concepts, conversations,
and personal thoughts and renders them
tangible and permanent.

JB: “Lust of the eyes is a misuse of the sense By rephrasing the scripture, JB helps me to
of beauty. Pride of life is misplaced ambition.” internalize the message of the lesson. It’s not
jargon anymore. Putting it in different words
makes it mean more.

JB gives the floor back to HT. HT says that

the entire lesson can be summarized in Verse
9: “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth
his brother, is in darkness even now.” He
points out that light and darkness are
metaphors for life and death, good and evil.
He doesn’t stop to explicitly define the word HT seems to be consciously reinforcing
metaphor, but inserts the definition in passing: vocabulary for students of all ages.
“It’s a metaphor, something symbolizing
something.”

It’s time for the question of the week. HT says

that he has been accused of giving easy
questions, so this time he is going to challenge
us. He reviews the five major religious groups
in ancient Israel, commenting briefly on each
of them:
Sadducees
Pharisees
Herodians- supported the rule of Herod, more
political than religious
Zealots- known for their zeal
Essenes
Question: What were the major differences
between the Sadducees and the Pharises?
The Church Service:
For the first few minutes of the service, the
church is somewhat empty, but it fills up
quickly. There is a good turn out today.
People I met during my first visit wave to me
or come to shake my hand.
When the preacher takes the pulpit to welcome
the congregation, he encourages people to take
notes. He points out the “Sermon Notes”
section on the back of the Worship Program.
He says that note taking helps you remember to
take what you learn out into the world. He
encourages us to “smile at people on the street.
There is a call for visitors to introduce
themselves. Two people stand up to introduce
themselves to the congregation. One is from
another town. They say their names, their
home church, and their occupations. Everyone
applauds.
We follow the program. Interspersed with the
benevolence, announcements, and responsive
reading. The choir sings at least five songs,
mostly gospel. The band, which consists of a
keyboard, piano, percussionist, and bass player
improvise a lot, “jamming out.” During two of
the songs, a lead singer is on the mic. Each of
these singers has a lot of energy and
improvises a lot, letting the moment carry them
Compare and contrast question that requires
careful reading and critical thinking. I will
have to do my homework!
The preacher is suggesting that taking notes is
a way make the lessons learned in church real.
The physical documents you carry out of the
church with you are reminders to continue
applying these lessons throughout the week.
There is a lot of interaction during the service.
This is a time for people to explicitly introduce
themselves. Aside from this, the congregation
is constantly responding to the sermon
verbally, “Amen, you’re right, that’s the truth.”
I really like this. No one could fall asleep
during these services.
This is a particularly “high energy” service.
Everyone seems to have lost themselves to
music and religious fervor. I enjoy these
moments, but I am pretty quiet compared to
everyone else. Still, I stand up, clap, and
participate as much as I am comfortable with
doing.
away. Everyone is standing, clapping,
dancing, singing, and shouting praise.
During the sermon, a lot of people around me
writing in their Bibles and their programs. At
one point, a woman carries a note up and hands
it to the preacher. She has jotted down the
name of a passage that she thinks applies to the
sermon and that the preacher hasn’t mentioned.
He glances at the note and works the passage
into his sermon. As he nears the end of the
sermon, he is begins singing his words in a
deep, baritone voice. The band chimes in to
segue into the tithes and offertory.
Even the sermon is an interactive literacy
event. I have never seen anything like this at a
church. In my experience, the preacher
preachers and everyone listens, end of story
Everyone here sings. Both of the preachers
have deep, expressive voices and burst into
song at intervals. The band chimes in
whenever it seems natural. The entire service
has an organic, musical quality.