Reverend Ike, 2:45 every Sunday

I walk by this grand old theater in my neighborhood called The United Palace Theater", several days each week, and on the marquee it says, "Reverend Ike, Sundays at 2:45." I've always wanted to check it out, and finally today, at around 3:20 I found myself walking by and saw no reason not to enter. It was a really beautiful old theater that is still being used for concerts and the like, but since 1969, it has been owned by Rev. Ike's ministry, Christ United Church and every Sunday, the Rev. Ike holds service here.

My first thought was that there were so few people in the audience, and so many people up on stage. I actually counted 60 audience members and 17 people on stage. As I entered, a singer was belting out old gospel music, and everyone on stage and off were standing, clapping and singing along, the choir swaying back and forth. She was accompanied by an organ on stage and a drum set. After she was done, a woman came on the stage (from stage right) and introduces today's preacher, who was not the Rev. Ike after all. Apparently the Rev Ike was taking the day off for some reason. Perhaps that was the reason that the place was empty.

The preacher spoke about the Lord putting trials and tribulations into your life for a reason. He quoted Exodus a lot. Almost every single sentence he would interject the word "Hallelujah" or "Amen" or "Praise God" either in the middle or at the end of the sentence, so often that it was almost like a tic, or better, like some ecclesiastical version of Turret's. The choir was on stage, and they were all saying things like, "Alright" or "Uh-huh!" or "That's right" or "You tell 'em, Reverend" or my personal favorite, "Mmm, mmm, mmm!" Since the choir was miked you could hear all of these interjections clearly. It gave me a new understanding of preaching to the choir. Most of the people in the audience were not really participating with the enthusiasm of the choir, and so he would ask the audience for an amen or an hallelujah every so often. If he was talking about attitude, he tell us, "Everyone say, 'Attitude,'" and all the sheep would dutifully respond, "Attitude!" Basically, the entire service was one big cliche, but it was quite a performance, and I enjoyed it for what it was.

I stayed for about 35 minutes or so. I took this picture with my cell phone and one of the ushers came to my seat and told me that no pictures were allowed to be taken of the service. Of course by that point it was already a done deal. But for a minute, I thought she was going to ask me for my iPhone, so she could confiscate the picture. If that happened, I would have told her that I had already emailed the picture after I took it and erasing it wouldn't serve God's purpose.

Anyway...I definitely want to come back when the Rev. Ike is performing. I'm sure that will be even better theater than I saw today. I went to his website (revike.org) and this is what he says about himself:

"Rev. Ike has been one of the most misunderstood geniuses of the 20th Century. In the past, his message was often misrepresented by the media who sometimes ridiculed his flamboyant style and daring, unconventional teachings.

Today, Rev. Ike's true genius is undisputed, his teachings are accepted as universal truths, and he is acknowledged as a Master teacher, a mentor, and an inspiration by many famous motivational teachers and authors."

How can I not go back and see this??