Sunday, December 04, 2005
Our Church
My kids performed in the Christmas pageant at our church this morning. It was brilliant-- funny, cute, with a real baby Jesus that my daughter got to cuddle because she was, you guessed it, Mary. Awww. She did a fabulous job in a pretty major role. My son was a soldier and looked totally adorable in a red jacket with gold braid and big gold buttons and a tall black hat with gold braid on it. He saluted at the end of the pageant and made people giggle.
I really enjoy going to our church. It's a United church and the minister is a man in his 40s who has three teenage sons and a wife who is also a minister (at another church). The choir is wonderful, there's a pipe organ and the music is always gorgeous. The minister's sermons are very intelligent and well-thought-out and delivered. Almost every week there is something thought-provoking in the sermon that gives me something to chew on for the rest of the day. There's a wonderful sense of community in this congregation, and lots of social-justice and charitable activity going on all the time, led by some truly inspiring civic-minded and just plain kind people. What's also interesting is the large and active group of teenagers. This is something I've never seen in a church and it says something very positive about the minister and the congregation. The sunday school is very active and fun for the kids, and they are really an integral part of the rest of the congregation. The church wouldn't be the same without all of the happy young things running around.
It's becoming a second home for my kids, and every Sunday, without fail, I experience something very joyful in my time there. At least once every week I have tears in my eyes (usually from the music, but sometimes from witnessing something moving), every week I have a laugh, and at the end of the service I feel somehow -- I don't know, I don't want to say "cleansed" because of the connotations of sinfulness -- but I do feel sort of rinsed out and ready to commit myself to doing good in the world in some small way. What more could you ask for in a church experience?
Some other time I'll tell you about my history with church, and how I stayed away for a long time, and what my spiritual search is about. But I thought I'd tell you a little bit about this part of my life and what it means to me.
My kids performed in the Christmas pageant at our church this morning. It was brilliant-- funny, cute, with a real baby Jesus that my daughter got to cuddle because she was, you guessed it, Mary. Awww. She did a fabulous job in a pretty major role. My son was a soldier and looked totally adorable in a red jacket with gold braid and big gold buttons and a tall black hat with gold braid on it. He saluted at the end of the pageant and made people giggle.
I really enjoy going to our church. It's a United church and the minister is a man in his 40s who has three teenage sons and a wife who is also a minister (at another church). The choir is wonderful, there's a pipe organ and the music is always gorgeous. The minister's sermons are very intelligent and well-thought-out and delivered. Almost every week there is something thought-provoking in the sermon that gives me something to chew on for the rest of the day. There's a wonderful sense of community in this congregation, and lots of social-justice and charitable activity going on all the time, led by some truly inspiring civic-minded and just plain kind people. What's also interesting is the large and active group of teenagers. This is something I've never seen in a church and it says something very positive about the minister and the congregation. The sunday school is very active and fun for the kids, and they are really an integral part of the rest of the congregation. The church wouldn't be the same without all of the happy young things running around.
It's becoming a second home for my kids, and every Sunday, without fail, I experience something very joyful in my time there. At least once every week I have tears in my eyes (usually from the music, but sometimes from witnessing something moving), every week I have a laugh, and at the end of the service I feel somehow -- I don't know, I don't want to say "cleansed" because of the connotations of sinfulness -- but I do feel sort of rinsed out and ready to commit myself to doing good in the world in some small way. What more could you ask for in a church experience?
Some other time I'll tell you about my history with church, and how I stayed away for a long time, and what my spiritual search is about. But I thought I'd tell you a little bit about this part of my life and what it means to me.
# posted by becca : 9:53 AM
