Cody Hammer

E. Bullok

English 1302-011

October 23, 2012

EAGLES NESTING IN THE CHURCH: AN ETHNOGRAPIC SETTING ESSAY

As you pull in to the concrete parking lot you wouldn’t expect a whole bunch to be

happening on a Monday night in a Methodist Church. When 7:00 PM comes around, that’s a

completely different story. The church becomes saturated with Scouts.

As you pull off of Lamar Avenue you pass the front of the Church. There is a big sigh

with red letters that read, “Calvary United Methodist Church”. There is a dove attached to the

wall above the doors of the front, which at night, when illuminated casts the shadow of a cross.

To get to the parking lot you pull around to the back where it is a little less detailed. If you arrive

there early to a meeting in the right time of year, you will usually see a group of Scouts outside

playing basketball or throwing Frisbee. You park your vehicle in one of the many parking

spaces. As you step out of your vehicle, the sounds of kids playing all around you fill your ears.

The Scouts meet in the Youth wing of the church. As you approach you see letters painted on the

wall that reads, “Youth Annex”. You can either walk up the 3 rather large steps to get to the front

of the youth wing, or take the switch backed ramp that leads to the door. The door is painted

black with chalkboard paint. Every week there is any announcements about what events the

church has coming up. It also very regularly has different Bible verses for people to read. As you

push the heavy door open the cool air hits your face, sending chills down your back. The youth

wing of the church is often very cold. There is a giant reddish-brown rock that sits to the left of

the door as you walk in to prop it open. As you walk farther into the wing the first door that you

see is an office to the right. I have never actually been in the office, nor know what it looks like

inside. All I know is there are usually post it notes of every color, shape, and size that cover the

door with different notes to the youth leader.

Across the way from that door is another one, of which I am very familiar with. This is

their game room. As you go in to this room the colors just set you back. It was just a plain white

walled room, but an Eagle Project four years ago changed that. The church asked one of our

troop’s members to paint the room however he wanted. Their only request was for it to have

more color. So as you walk in your eyes are filled with every color imaginable. There is red,

blue, black, red, yellow, pink, orange, green, purple, and many other colors splatter painted on

the wall. In the middle of the room is a pool table. The red felt is starting to show its age. In the

corner is a foosball table. Its little figurines sit there in the position the last person left them. In

the opposite corner there is a ping pong table. Its green top is usually folded at half. The table

would take up too much of the room’s limited space.

You walk out of there and continue down the main part of the room until it widens. Here

is where we have the most activity. On the south end of the room there is a short wooden

bookcase that takes up the entire length of the wall. There are many different religious books that

occupy it, from hymnals and bibles, to books written about people’s feelings about what they

have experienced. In the south east corner of the room there is a door that leads you to the rest of

the church and to the bathrooms. All along the east side is a kitchen setup. They have a black

dishwasher, a nice new silver sink and faucet set, a black, electric stove, and finally a rather big

white refrigerator. At the north end of the room there are windows that have curtains of every

color covering them. There are also couches of different designs and shapes that form a circle in

the middle of the north end of the room. This is where most of the teaching is done. It provides a

small enough space to keep everyone together so that you can teach effectively.

To the North West there is another small room that we use for smaller group meetings.

This is a very plain walled room the only furniture in this room now are two black wood framed

couches and a whiteboard at the front. As you leave that room and make your way to the only

other door on the west side of the room, the first thing you will notice is what is written above

the door. In very plain black lettering the words, “On my honor, I will do my best: To do my

duty to God and my Country, To obey the Scout Law, To help other people at all times, and to

keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” Those are the words of the

Scout Oath that are written above the door. The Scouts were able to have all of their stuff there a

few years ago. Now when you walk in, though, there are only two of the folding tables set up

parallel to each other with brown metal folding chairs placed at them. There are also two blue

wood framed couches and one white one.

As you walk out of the room and look around you notice there are paintings everywhere

in the room, on the walls on a few of the pillars, even on the ceiling. The most common thing is a

Methodist cross, most of which are black crosses with the red flame. Next to every one of these

crosses is the signature of who stenciled it on there and their favorite scripture. There are crosses

and scripture all over the walls, in every color and size imaginable. It is just an awe inspiring

sight.

There is only one room that I have missed and that is the room that the Scouts keep all of

their stuff they need for meetings. I mentioned that they were in the room with the Scout Oath

above it, but the church decided to move them out of there. We were put into a room, if you can

call it that, beside the youth leader’s office as you walk in. The reason I say if you can call it that

is because it is so small. I have seen women’s closets that are larger than this room. The only

things besides books they can fit in there is two metal filing cases, and a wooden bookcase. They

also store a wooden rank board, showing everyone’s rank, in this room. It is not enough space to

do anything with.

The Scouts are content with what they have though. It has electricity, running water,

bathrooms, heating and cooling, everything they really need. It isn’t the best of places, but it

could be worse. The Scouts are very glad that Calvary United Methodist Church continues to

have them as a part of their church.

The Front of Calvary United Methodist Church