Ship of Fools: First United Methodist, Tempe, Arizona, USA

The Mystery Worshipper

Ship of Fools: First United Methodist, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Impeccable communion, rambling sermon, and a top-notch choir complete with gentleman wearing a fedora

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here

MrJack

Thank you for the nice review. I have been a member here for more than forty years and I think it is a pretty great church. I would like to make one correction mentioned in the review. The organ in the sanctuary is actually a pipe organ and not an electronic organ. The pipes are located in the balcony at the rear of the sanctuary. The console is located at the front of the balcony. The acoustics in the sanctuary are quite reverberant so it is understandable the it was difficult to figure out the direction from where the organ sound originated. If you sit in the back of the sanctuary under the balcony you cannot see the organ. The organ console was rebuilt in 2022 with new manuals and computerized controls. Our organist is Ms. Heidi Hansen, MFA in organ performance specializing in church music. Heidi is a very talented musician. She is also the choir accompanist and plays piano as well as the flute. Please feel free to come join us on any Sunday.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

I confess that I meant to glance up in the balcony as I was returning from communion, but it slipped my mind. Had I done so, I would have noticed the pipes.

Yes, I was impressed by the church and would be glad to return the next time I am in Tempe -- which is not often. But I do think you have to work on your friendliness to visitors. As I mentioned in the report, I felt like my cloaking device was turned on high.

HookTaBig1

I appreciate you leaving this feedback. I find it interesting that you were surprised and apparently disappointed that people listened attentively during the postlude and then applauded. As stated above, we have a very talented organist and in the past, people talked so much during the postlude, we could not appreciate it as the conclusion to the service if we weren't listening. So we've made it a point to be attentive to the amazing organ postludes to which we've been treated over the years. We are normally a very friendly congregation so I'm sorry you weren't welcomed as you had expected. It is my hope that you will return again soon. Thank you.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

Yes, but all of that talent is offered up to the glory of God, not to the entertainment of the audience -- oops, I mean congregation. By all means listen attentively, but then offer a silent prayer "all to the glory of God" as a certain very talented organist of years gone by once did.

Bishops Finger

I see what Miss Amanda means, but ISTM that that some appreciative applause, after the congregation has listened politely and attentively to a possibly virtuoso postlude, is not entirely out of place.

Talking during the postlude is, however, an Abomination Before The Lord, and I've even known some of our local Cathedral stewards - who should, and do, know better - guilty of this enormity. After the organist had finished, I Had Words with the malefactors, but they seemed not to understand what they'd done wrong...

Nick Tamen

I see it (sitting for the postlude and then some applause) happen more and more. Although I have a very strong aversion to applause of any music during the service*, I’m making a bit of peace with applause after the postlude. The service is over, and was over before the postlude started. The postlude is rarely intended as worship per se, but rather is “going out” or “traveling” music—music typically chosen with the expectation it will be talked over rather than listened to. Its purpose isn’t worship but rather transition of post-worship mood. (Pace, @Bishops Finger, talking through the postlude has very, very much been my normal experience throughout my 60+ years. Every organist I’ve known expects it and chooses music with that in mind.)

In those circumstances, I don’t think applause afterward necessarily violates the rule of no applause to musical offerings in worship. And I’ve never experienced that applause as signifying anything other than “thank you.”


* And even this strong aversion has some contextual qualifiers. I understand that applause of music has different connotations and significance in historically African American churches, compared to the predominantly white churches in which I’ve spent my life. Any aversion to applause it outweighed by an imperative not to impose my cultural assumptions outside on those of different cultures.

Bishops Finger

Well put @Nick Tamen - thank you.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

Well, OK, Miss Amanda will allow as how the service has already ended and the postlude is nothing more than exit music, then applause might be tolerated.