Sunday mornings

I love Sunday mornings at church.

I’m not referring to the usual reasons, the God and the priest reasons (though those are more valuable than I can say). No, I love Sunday mornings at church because of the people and the community we share.

Heck, as I write this I’m sitting in church listening to Rob’s sermon (don’t tell Rob, he’ll be too busy this week to red my blog, but thankfully I can read and listen to it again on our Web site). I’m actually using Rachel’s Color Wonder markers to write on its special paper… Markers sure are difficult to write legibly with.

We are blessed to be able to attend a church with a real focus on families. Right now Rob’s wife Linda saw that Rachel was getting antsy and needed some entertainment, so she picked Rachel up, grabbed a pen and paper, and they both just lit up as they drew a little.

A little bit later Rachel wanted to see someone else so we handed her over the pew to another family. There she proceeded to yank on both sides of a pen, pulling it apart with the spring flying in the air (man it was hard not to laugh, and some people around me did chuckle).

After church one parent came up and said that some week we need to line everyone up and see if we can pass Rachel across the pews to the back of the church (and maybe back to the front again on the other side) during a sermon. I don’t know how much Rob would appreciate it, but it would be funny.

Where else does stuff like that happen? At Don Pablos (a Tex-Mex restaurant) Saturday night Rachel kept standing up in the booth and staring at the family behind us. I just felt a bit guilty and did get one or two irritated glances. When I’m walking around the grocery store and Rachel decides she’s had enough and begins getting fussy, people just try to avoid me.

For us church is often the comfortable pair of slippers that fit just right (even if the edges are a bit frayed). We go into church with Rachel, but once it’s over she disappears as she gets passed around from person to person. I usually catch up with her about 10 minutes later. I love that I can trust the people and a place so completely.

I know I’ve said things like this before. So I won’t go too much into it. Sometimes I just have to share how much I think of the people at church. Rob is an incredibly lucky man to have a wife that will enjoy those parental roots and play with a child while listening to the sermon. I just love this place. I’m not necessarily trying to push church on people, but if you’re not feeling that community in your church, maybe it’s time to meet people and create it.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 1:19 PM