Sunday, October 25, 2009

The search for a "church"

We live here in a place where we are basically living out "church" as God created it. Meaning we live in true community, have daily worship/teachings, but we often feel the need to go to "real church". So this morning we decided we were up to the challenge. Every few weeks we decided to try another church from the list. So we get up and start the process, some of the conversation this morning was this: no, you can't wear those pants, they have too many holes in them; it's 25 degrees out, no you can't wear shorts; again, it's cold, no you can't wear a t-shirt, long sleeves please; you've been wearing that shirt since fri, no you can't wear it to church. Wew, so then I get Allie dressed. Oh my, I had no idea who complicated tights are. Do they go under the onesie or over? and then do you still put a diaper cover over the onesie which is over the tights? So, we're dressed and loaded up. Doing ok on time and we're off, hoping that maybe we'll like this church and the searching can be over. We're almost there and I hear grunting from Allie, this can't be good. Thankfully I threw a spare outfit. So now i'm in the back of the van with a baby that has pooped all over the tights, the onesie, the dress, oh my! So instead of looking really cute, she's now in an outfit with no feet and has no socks on, and it's still 25 degrees out.
We got situated and the boys were all being good, not so bad i'm thinking. Then it's time for communion, They start passing the plate with the little pieces of really bad tasting crackers and the little cups of juice. Our boys have never seen such a thing. They've only seen where you dip the bread in the glass, oh the excitement. It was at this point that David and I start wondering if we should abort the mission and escape before we cause a scene. Flint is so excited about the little cracker he could hardly stand it and Luke is wiggling around and i'm just thinking i'm about to get a lot of grape juice on me. Luke is convinced that they are little pieces of gum, not crackers. I kept saying, "sush, it's a cracker Luke, just wait". Well, he couldn't. he squeezed it as hard as he could, and yes it crumbled into a million pieces on his lap. It's finally time, Flint's trying so hard to dip the cracker in the little cup while somewhat dancing in the row. David and I each have several little cups in our hands and trying to contain the caous as much as possible. Ok, we made it. Oh no, wait, Allie has pooped yet again. So I take her to bathroom to find that now i've left the wipes in the van. We get back in the service and now Flint and Peter are done. Barrett and Luke have gone to Kid's church, which they informed us was "not fun at all". Allie's crying, Flint and Peter are antsy, and David and I are both outside in the hall with kids. I'm not sure why we do this to ourselves.
It makes me so appreciate our church at home, where we go and just feel comfortable. I so wish we could find that here. Maybe we'll muster the energy again to try again from the list. I think we've been really spoiled in a good way with an church that we really love, but it sure makes it hard for any other church to measure up.

2 comments:

Joy Seidel said...

Mary, I was just asking Erynn if we'd have our yearly Halloween rendezvous! Your stories of the family are just too much! God has blessed you with an amazing family and an amazing heart. Hope you have a Happy Halloween this year (not in Denver!) What will Allie be?

Erynn said...

what a great story. classic garrigan style had me giggling and giggling.