Clareified

I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, but as the nickname, Sin City suggests um…well…there may be a whole lot of praying going on, but there isn’t a lot of God on the streets of the strip.
The first time I went to church in Vegas, I was completely expecting slot machines at the end of each pew, cocktail waitress who passed out the Host and an open bar. And while that wasn’t the case, the Catholic Church, which is called a Shrine because they don’t really have a local congregation, isn’t anything like other churches. First off, it’s located in the shadow of two very flashy casinos: The Tropicana and the Luxor. The church is set off from the highway, in a deserted parking lot. There’s not much to see much a few hastily laid cement pedestrian walkways and rocks. Welcome to the desert.
As you get closer to the church there are some cacti littering the front and a huge carved Jesus statue out front. Although, the arms are outstretched, it reminds me of the winking thumbs up Jesus from the movie Saved.
On the right hand side, when you enter, is the church store.
That’s right. Store. They sell candy, and water and T-shirts and religious trinkets and Lotto.
Welcome to Las Vegas.
But once you pass through the doors to the chapel itself, there is a decidedly more reverent atmosphere.
It’s still not a traditional church, with arches, stained glass windows or a sacristy. In fact, it has a very Baptist feel. The instead is made of Formica and the ceilings are low and sloping.
I wasn’t sure that I was in a Catholic church, but for the Stations of the Cross along the sides.
(One time I got tricked into attending a whole Presbyterian service in Manhattan before I realized my mistake. Trickers!)
There are also like six gigantic three-dimensional scenes from the bible hanging on the walls.
My favorite one is the carving of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Even as a kid I was impressed by the humility of God himself cleaning other people’s feet. I mean, they wore sandals for Chris…goodness sakes.
I can’t say I follow the example, but it definitely inspired me to have an example that I would follow should I get around to not being a lazy jerk.
Anyway, I take my seat in front of this carving.
It’s funny, because when I asked the concierge at the MGM for a schedule of masses, they gave me a card for a parish in outer Las Vegas. I knew the Shrine was closer, so to get there I relied on my holistic memory of the last time I went to the church back in July. Of course, right after mass that summer, I went straight to the closest poker room, which was the Tropicana. So, this time, I went straight to the Tropicana poker room and retraced my steps through the room, back through the casino floor, into the parking and over the hedges I scaled last summer in search of cards, until I found myself in the Shrine parking lot!
It was pretty awesome.
The priest comes out wearing the Madonna headphones and gives us the rundown about the Shrine and how it doesn’t have a congregation and relies on tourist contributions. He encourages us to shop at the store and bring home some of “Father John’s chocolates to give out as Christmas gifts.”
He then has us introduced ourselves to our neighbors. I am sitting near Alana, her father Miguel and her mother Alana from Los Angeles.
The service goes quickly. It’s a second week of advent message of peace and giving.
I decide I am definitely going to be the peace I would like to see in the world.
But I’m not washing any feet.

This entry was posted by Dawn Summers on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.