mik1of3's Blog

I've never been a very religious person.  I believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, always have.  I liked church okay..the communion ceremony was and remains my favorite sacrament...but as most Lutherans can tell you, our traditional songs sound more like laments and death marches than happy, uplifting music that makes your soul take flight.   So, while I went to church on holidays and special occasions-you know, like baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmations--I really wasn't active in any church body.  My church was the beach, the park.  I could and did talk to God and pray wherever I was, no matter what I was doing.  (Ask some of the runners at Memorial Park..a lot of them thought of me as the crazy girl who talked to herself for the longest time..prolly still do.)  I felt close to Him, always have..that's probably why I've never, ever been truly afraid of anything.  Nervous?  Yes.  Uneasy?  Yes.  But true, total fear?  I don't think so.   Not when the doctor found some spots on my cervix in 1988.  Not when my X boyfriend and his brothers broke into my apartment and beat me and my X husband up in 1996.  Not when I had my C-section in 1997.   Not when the doctor felt something on my ovaries in 2000.  Never.  I've always had this faith that He was always watching me...always taking care of me. 
But I missed having a church.  I envied those who loved their church, who felt home there, who actually and truly wanted to BE there...to teach, to work, to just, well, like He said  to just "BE still and know that I AM".  I hoped to find it when my old church died and we transferred to a new one in Friendswood back in 2000.  The pastor was, like us, a little "left of center"..a youngish pastor who had invigorating sermons, a pastor who helped Tony and I through a very, very rough and potentially fatal spot in our marriage.  The pastor was great..but the congregants?  If you like high school cliques and drama, then yes, its for you. 
Plus, my daughter didn't like the Sunday school.  The kids there also went to school together..and since Scotti goes to LSA, they pretty much left her out.  Only two other girls from LSA go to that church...but they only attended sporadically, for the same reason.  It seemed that most of the LSA kids who were Lutheran were members of Gloria Dei in Clear Lake.
We had been to Gloria Dei quite a few times.  A lot of Scotti's activities..drama camp, Upward Cheer, soccer camp...were held there.  I liked it, but was loathe to transfer to it.  My family was a member of Hope...and leaving them behind was something I really didn't want to do.  Me and my sisters, after all, would still act up in church if it got too boring. 
But Scotti was approaching sixth grade, a time where Lutheran kids begin catechism, a two year study where they make the transition from child of the church to participating adult.  She wanted very badly to attend Gloria Dei with her friends during this journey.  In fact, she had been clamoring for the past two years about going to Gloria Dei instead of our church.  Since I had been in her position--I didn't attend Sunday School for the same reasons she did, (the kids all went to a different school than I) and I had to attend confirmation with basically strangers who never did include me in anything-- I went ahead and made the arrangements.   When they asked me if I wanted to be a mentor, to help teach a group, I said yes.  A new church, you're darn straight I'm gonna be in it, to make sure you're not turning my daughter into a chicken killing, tongue speaking over the top christian. They laughed and BOOM, I was a mentor. 
The first class, I was a goner.  Over 50, FIFTY!! kids running around the large room, at least 15 of them Scotti's 6th grade classmates, kids I've watched grow from kindergarten..and 10 more LSA seventh graders who recognized me enough to say hi.  The youth pastor, Lonnie, came in with a guitar and four high school kids who serve as youth mentors.  They started leading all of us in a goofy song called the "banana" song, making ALL of us dance and sing along.  It was FUN, it was FUNNY, and by the time we were done with the group lesson, game and sent to our individual groups, we were all sore from laughing and dancing.  Scotti was eventually put in a different group than the one I led, which was probably a good thing..the very first group she was with me, and we were both so nervous about embarrassing the other we really didn't participate much. 
The church offers three services...the traditional @ 8 and 9:30 am; the contemporary at 11 am.  We  had heard a lot of great things about the contemporary service,  so we went.  It was there that I woke up.  The music..well, first, instead of an organ, there was a BAND, complete with electric guitars, drums, and a lead singer.  Most, if not all of the music was written after 2000.  It was lively music, and I have never, ever enjoyed a service as much.  Never.  Never have I been asked, encouraged to dance during the hymns..but at times, it is MANDATORY!!  (See the words to the song Marvelous Light for an example.)  
The congregation is a little big, so when we take communion, there's three different little tables set up in each seating section...and for someone like me who usually despises crowds to actually enjoy them is a miracle in and of itself!  The people there are great..I have yet to meet a grumpy person, or a person that I felt was looking down on me or Scotti because we didn't have the money that the average parishoner did. 
I have found a church, that has brought me even closer to my Father.  Hallelujah!!  (FINALLY!)