READING - Judgment Day may be imminent, but there is a leisurely quality to the Jehovah's Witnesses' district convention here, even as speaker after speaker warns that The End is near.
"It will be a day of terrible tribulation," Elder Benjamin James of Philadelphia cautioned Friday. "There will be no escaping for those who failed to be watchful."
Yet there is no shouting, no theatrics. Many in the crowd of 5,000 nod; a few fan themselves with their program notes, silent and attentive to the message of impending doom.
"Keep on the Watch" is the theme and constant refrain at the Sovereign Center, where Witnesses, mostly from eastern Pennsylvania, began their three-day "educational" convention Friday morning.
This gathering is one of eight scripted, nearly identical Witnesses conventions that began here June 19 and will continue through the last weekend in August. Daily crowds have averaged 5,000 to 6,000, according to organizers.
The theme, echoed in Witnesses conventions across the country, is based on biblical passages in which Jesus warned his followers to ready themselves for the arrival of God's kingdom. So similar are these district conventions that all use the same generic program, printed in blue, with prescribed times for each speech, song, and announcement.
While most Christian denominations exhort their flocks to prepare for Armageddon, its imminence is central to the teachings of the Witnesses, who claim about 1.1 million adherents in the United States and more than six million more worldwide.
Founded in the late 19th century and headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., the denomination puts great emphasis on worshiping God by his Hebrew name, Yahweh or Jehovah. Witnesses honor Jesus as Jehovah's son and prophet but do not worship him as God. The denomination's scripture is the Bible, read with a close eye to the day of divine judgment.
Just about every convention speaker - and there is a new one every 15 minutes - warned Friday of "the big day," or "Jehovah's day," or the "wicked day." One pointed out the "spurt of seismic activity" and "lack of love" in the world as proof that the day is nigh.
But the goal of the message is "not to terrify, but to reassure," James, 49, explained in a conversation after his lecture. Raised a Baptist in Mobile, Ala., he moved to Philadelphia at 14 and came to Jehovah's Witnesses at 19.
"It seemed right from the beginning," James said. A heavy-equipment operator for Philadelphia Gas Works since 1979, he heads the congregation on Ridge Avenue and serves as a substitute circuit overseer for the Philadelphia area. He plans to retire next year, he said, to devote more time to the organization.
The convention also relies on the stories and testimonies of lay members, who appear regularly on the dais to be interviewed.
"How long have you been expecting Armageddon?" one man was asked.
"I've been anticipating it for 40 years," he replied.
"And have you been disappointed that it has not yet come?" asked the interviewer, reading from a script.
"No, said the man. "I see it as an opportunity for people to know Jehovah. And I've learned to live one day at a time with eternity in view."
He was followed by Sister Odell Davis of Philadelphia, who said she had been waiting for Judgment Day since 1963. She is "not at all disappointed" that it has not yet come, she said, because it has "allowed me personally to get closer to Jehovah."
Despite the sameness of Witnesses' annual conventions, "we've never missed one," said Wendi Baker, 36, of Hopewell in Bedford County, near Altoona.
"In February each year we find out when and where the convention will be, and we get physically excited, we so look forward to it," she said.
"In the world there are so many distractions, whether it's working, or caring for a house, or raising children," added her husband, Chad. The two run a cleaning business, which, they said, gives them time to devote an extra day every week to their calling.
Sitting with them were their daughter, Cortni, 9, and son, Everett, 7. "These conventions help us keep it in perspective," their father said, "and keep Jehovah in first place in our lives."