I've been missing Church. I can hear my Vacation Bible School music teacher in my head right now, "the church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people." Yes, thank you, VBS! Such a profound and true statement to drill into my head at the age of 8, but here, it's more complicated than that. What if there's not a people? What if there's not a building where those people gather? What if the only other people you know who follow Jesus in your vicinity just happen to be foreigners, too? It probably looks a lot more like what the first followers of Jesus experienced. Let me tell you what being the Church has looked like for our family in recent months.
Sunday rolls in and the kids are up by 5:30 AM as always. Chris gets up with the kids while I catch another hour or two of sleep (since I was the one up 3 times in the night). Then, we have a relaxing breakfast -- usually something special like pancakes or french toast or crepes or omelets. After that, Chris and I check with each other: whose turn is it to lead family worship? Oh, no! It's mine! What with language study and teaching Jed and Abe preschool and trying to get Lucy to eat solid food and the unexpected visitor and the power going out while I tried to bake the last meal, I totally forgot! So, I grab my Bible and shut myself in our bedroom to 'prepare'. Help, Jesus! What in the world should we do? I find a story and come up with a quick object lesson for the kiddos. Then, we fend off a couple meltdowns from the boys over something-or-other and get them to clean their room enough so we can have worship in there -- it's already a disaster since they've probably been ransacking it for about 4-5 hours by now. Okay, time to really love on Jesus!
Grab the guitar and ukelele -- get out a couple drums and shakers and maybe a harmonica for the kids. We learned within the first few months that any of the songs that really speak deeply to Chris' and my hearts don't work during this time. But why? Because our boys are 4 and 2. They don't last through the first verse. So, we've taken to doing some much more upbeat, repetitive, and campy songs so that the kids can be engaged. There's a lot of "This Little Light of Mine," "Mighty to Save," "Jesus in the Morning," and "Every Move I Make." One really cool thing that's emerged from this time is our little songwriters. I took to asking Jed and Abe what songs they wanted to sing to Jesus. Jed started it. One day, he said, "I want to teach you a new one. Sing this:" Then he went off into a 2-3 minute song about who God was to him. It was spot-on. It was moving. It was truer worship than I'd seen in a while. Then, Abe started in, too. Granted, Abe is writing 2-year-old songs that tend to be modeled after his brothers', but they are also profound. Thanks for the worship, boys! Just last Sunday, we decided to start a new tradition as a family -- we will write a new song together, I will help get a melody and chords for it. Then, we want to record these songs so that we can listen back to them over the years. What a blessing to have kids who give their hearts to Jesus in this way!
Wait, was that too rosy of a picture? Did it feel a bit like Precious Moments in here for a minute? Sorry, just remember that while we're singing those songs, Jed and/or Abe are jumping off the furniture and someone probably hit their sister's head with a drumstick. Precious!
Afterwards, we try to get the boys to relax and hear some of God's words from the Bible. Sometimes it's a story/parable. Sometimes it's an object lesson. Sometimes we act it out. Sometimes we do a little craft with it. Sometimes we get the boys to tell it back to us. Sometimes we don't gauge the attention span well enough and one of our dear little learners ends up crying with his nose in the corner and then we all practice asking for and receiving forgiveness from each other.
We usually get some prayers in. These also can end in the aforementioned forgiveness sessions. Or, they can move me to tear up. Or they can be hurried because we have another unexpected guest at the door.
One more thing we've been doing is teaching our kids about giving back to God what He's given us. So, Chris shows them 10 coins or 10 small bills and tells them that we should give at least one back to God. They are still at the phase where they enjoy hearing that money clink in the jar, so they usually give it all. Bless their hearts! Some day they'll probably keep some to spend on bubble gum or weapons, but for now, at least they're getting the concept. So, that's Church.
I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't miss what used to be Church for me. Getting up on Sundays and grabbing a doughnut and cup of coffee in the lobby. Chatting with all those people that I've grown to love and care about. Meeting new people and hoping they feel welcome and know I truly like them. Singing along to a full band -- or acoustic band -- or piano -- or organ -- or anything. Closing my eyes and singing a song I've had memorized since I was a little girl. Raising my hands and belting out one that hit me in a new way that day. Sitting and hearing people read God's words. Sitting and hearing someone expound on God's words and just getting to take it in, let it fill and challenge me. Kneeling to receive the Lord's Supper and Blessings. Kneeling to pray. Putting my hands on someone and praying for them. Having them pray for me. Hearing the familiar notes of the liturgy. Hearing the unfamiliar notes of a 'New Song unto the Lord'. Being surrounded by others that, whether they have passion or not, (and lots of them do), love Jesus enough to show up.
So, yes. "I am the Church. You are the Church. We are the Church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world. Yes, we're the Church together." Sometimes I just wish we had more together.
Someday, Church might look a little more like this again.
A big P.S.! Thanks to our friends here who get together every week and have a meal together and pray together and read God's word together. 7 adults. 9 kids 8 years old and under. It's a crazy way to do things, too, but thank you for the blessing you are and the way it fills me. You know who you are!
Sunday rolls in and the kids are up by 5:30 AM as always. Chris gets up with the kids while I catch another hour or two of sleep (since I was the one up 3 times in the night). Then, we have a relaxing breakfast -- usually something special like pancakes or french toast or crepes or omelets. After that, Chris and I check with each other: whose turn is it to lead family worship? Oh, no! It's mine! What with language study and teaching Jed and Abe preschool and trying to get Lucy to eat solid food and the unexpected visitor and the power going out while I tried to bake the last meal, I totally forgot! So, I grab my Bible and shut myself in our bedroom to 'prepare'. Help, Jesus! What in the world should we do? I find a story and come up with a quick object lesson for the kiddos. Then, we fend off a couple meltdowns from the boys over something-or-other and get them to clean their room enough so we can have worship in there -- it's already a disaster since they've probably been ransacking it for about 4-5 hours by now. Okay, time to really love on Jesus!
Grab the guitar and ukelele -- get out a couple drums and shakers and maybe a harmonica for the kids. We learned within the first few months that any of the songs that really speak deeply to Chris' and my hearts don't work during this time. But why? Because our boys are 4 and 2. They don't last through the first verse. So, we've taken to doing some much more upbeat, repetitive, and campy songs so that the kids can be engaged. There's a lot of "This Little Light of Mine," "Mighty to Save," "Jesus in the Morning," and "Every Move I Make." One really cool thing that's emerged from this time is our little songwriters. I took to asking Jed and Abe what songs they wanted to sing to Jesus. Jed started it. One day, he said, "I want to teach you a new one. Sing this:" Then he went off into a 2-3 minute song about who God was to him. It was spot-on. It was moving. It was truer worship than I'd seen in a while. Then, Abe started in, too. Granted, Abe is writing 2-year-old songs that tend to be modeled after his brothers', but they are also profound. Thanks for the worship, boys! Just last Sunday, we decided to start a new tradition as a family -- we will write a new song together, I will help get a melody and chords for it. Then, we want to record these songs so that we can listen back to them over the years. What a blessing to have kids who give their hearts to Jesus in this way!
Wait, was that too rosy of a picture? Did it feel a bit like Precious Moments in here for a minute? Sorry, just remember that while we're singing those songs, Jed and/or Abe are jumping off the furniture and someone probably hit their sister's head with a drumstick. Precious!
Afterwards, we try to get the boys to relax and hear some of God's words from the Bible. Sometimes it's a story/parable. Sometimes it's an object lesson. Sometimes we act it out. Sometimes we do a little craft with it. Sometimes we get the boys to tell it back to us. Sometimes we don't gauge the attention span well enough and one of our dear little learners ends up crying with his nose in the corner and then we all practice asking for and receiving forgiveness from each other.
We usually get some prayers in. These also can end in the aforementioned forgiveness sessions. Or, they can move me to tear up. Or they can be hurried because we have another unexpected guest at the door.
One more thing we've been doing is teaching our kids about giving back to God what He's given us. So, Chris shows them 10 coins or 10 small bills and tells them that we should give at least one back to God. They are still at the phase where they enjoy hearing that money clink in the jar, so they usually give it all. Bless their hearts! Some day they'll probably keep some to spend on bubble gum or weapons, but for now, at least they're getting the concept. So, that's Church.
I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't miss what used to be Church for me. Getting up on Sundays and grabbing a doughnut and cup of coffee in the lobby. Chatting with all those people that I've grown to love and care about. Meeting new people and hoping they feel welcome and know I truly like them. Singing along to a full band -- or acoustic band -- or piano -- or organ -- or anything. Closing my eyes and singing a song I've had memorized since I was a little girl. Raising my hands and belting out one that hit me in a new way that day. Sitting and hearing people read God's words. Sitting and hearing someone expound on God's words and just getting to take it in, let it fill and challenge me. Kneeling to receive the Lord's Supper and Blessings. Kneeling to pray. Putting my hands on someone and praying for them. Having them pray for me. Hearing the familiar notes of the liturgy. Hearing the unfamiliar notes of a 'New Song unto the Lord'. Being surrounded by others that, whether they have passion or not, (and lots of them do), love Jesus enough to show up.
So, yes. "I am the Church. You are the Church. We are the Church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world. Yes, we're the Church together." Sometimes I just wish we had more together.
Someday, Church might look a little more like this again.
A big P.S.! Thanks to our friends here who get together every week and have a meal together and pray together and read God's word together. 7 adults. 9 kids 8 years old and under. It's a crazy way to do things, too, but thank you for the blessing you are and the way it fills me. You know who you are!
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