Come Into This Place Where Love and Hope Will Abide

When I left for church this morning I was thinking I'd only missed one week, one Sunday. But then everyone was asking me if I'd been away, if I'd had a vacation, done anything fun.

Hunh? I was gone for a long weekend, I'm elbow deep in teachers and curricula and articles and updated tri folds and prospectuses and a million other things. Time off?

But of course, I did have some time away, and I did miss TWO whole Sundays. And while it certainly doesn't feel like what happened was a vacation, I did have a break from my congregation.

It sure felt good to be back with my regular Sunday morning family, with happy young faces, and friendly not so young ones and all the good folks it takes to run a Sunday at a nice little church.

In fact it felt really good. I think it's easy to fall out of a routine. I know that going in today I was feeling bad about missing the semi finals and finals at Peter's soccer tournament (which they won and he scored on a PK for the win thank-you-very-much, two weeks of canoeing doesn't mess with your shot too badly). I was feeling anxious about not really having a well prepared Story For All Ages. I was draggy from staying up til midnight waiting for the eldest to come home, I hadn't had enough coffee, I am fighting a cold, still. Crabby, I was really crabby.

And then the people started coming. The greeters, my dear Assocaiate DRE, our lovely music director, the people who do the "ministry of the chairs" and set up dozens of big heavy folding chairs. Zachary was there, fresh from his trip to Disney, and almost tall enough now to pass for a second grader even though he's not even in Kindergarten yet. Our RE Council dears came to help. All the people were there. And it made my heart glad.

I know our lives are so busy, sometimes it is just easier to skip church. Families are pulled so hard in so many directions. But there is something about church that you just can't get easily from any other place. It's community, and it's faith and it's being needed and wanted and filled right up to the top.

I snuck back in to the sanctuary after the kids were settled to hear some of the sermon, that is how good my summer RE staff is; I don't even have to hover near by. And it was good. I wish I could have stayed for the hymn and the amens at the end. Church does me some good. I think church does us all some good.

Bring on the fall, with all the love and hope and home that we can pour into it, bring it on. But wait, I really do need those two weeks to line up all my ducks. Then, then--bring it on.

(thanks to Joyce Poley for the title of this little blog today)