My Church (Part One)

This week, I had Wednesday night stuff at my church, and I had a sweet time with a few people at my church, and it got me thinking about "my church", and made me think about writing this post. Turns out, that's what our pastor is speaking about this coming Sunday. So I better hurry this post up before he gets his sermon out there, and I have to rethink it all. So, I'll call this "My Church, Part One."

My church is two sets of twins that are just over a year old. A boy set and a girl set. The boys were the babies Jesus in the Christmas play. I go in and see them for a baby snuggle every Sunday and they are very willing to oblige.

My church is a little girl that ran and jumped into my arms and said "you're my teacher...what's your name?" She's precious, and she's so excited to see me every week. She's going through hell at home, but she puts it all aside at church. I wish nothing more than to be able to make it better for her.

My church is this group of kids that are in the youth now. The youth! I taught them in VBS the summer after they finished 3rd grade. 3rd grade! They are the group that God chose to call me into the ministry five years ago. And now they're in seventh grade. And that freaks me out.

My church is the two boys that play guitar for our preschool service. They are seniors in high school, and are hands down the coolest people I know because they don't take themselves seriously and they faithfully spend every Sunday morning missing the socializing part of their Bible study to play guitar for preschoolers and scream "I love you God" so loud that the people in big church can hear them.

My church is the two families that I used to run into at Wendy's on Sunday nights after the service. I told my old roommate that if everyone that ever visited our church could come to dinner with us and meet these two families, we'd have to turn people away for lack of space.

My church is the most beautiful building around, with two steeples that I used to be able to see from my balcony if I looked really hard and stood on my tippy toes. My friend the Peace Corps Queen calls it "Ft. God." She's funny like that. She doesn't go to my church, but I think of her when I say my church.

My church is Sam-I-Am, that I love dearly, but it's also her very good friend, that I don't love. I have not-loved her for quite some time, but I love her more than I loved her at first, and that's a start. It helps that Sam-I-Am loves her, so I know I should too.

My church is the lady that drives me crazy, and she is crazy, but because she comes to my church, we have to be nice to her, and everytime I am forced to be nice to her, it drives me insane, but I can't be mean to her because God did not create me to be mean. I can't say that I don't avoid her at all costs when I see her walking towards me, but I have to accept the times that I can't avoid her as a stretching experience directly from God.

My church is the student minister, who is transparent to teenagers and adults alike. She does her job better than any of the ones that went before her, and I am a better person because I know her. She loves the kids, but lots of people love the kids. She is an example of grace and all of the things that are so very beautiful about God.

My church is lots of things. I love my church.