Got Church?

I work for a church. If you've ever worked for a church, you know that you can't just go there on your day off or while you're on vacation and expect people to respect that fact. They will make you work. It isn't like working at Target and on your day off you need to run in and pick up some cat food, but nobody even notices you in there, so you're not riddled with work-related "stuff". How awesome would that be, I wonder? It makes it difficult, when on a Sunday morning, I want to worship God in fellowship with other Christians....but I'm on vacation. I don't want to go to my church to worship & praise God and instead be bombarded with work-related issues. "Amy! The toilet is overflowing!" "Amy, there are a lot of weeds on the property...Why don't you go pull all of them?" "Amy, Why can't you make the city move faster?" I would be sucked into work faster than you can say "Pass the Peace". I need my time away-- to regroup, to relax, to just take a break. Working for a church can be a blessing, but it can also be very stressful and emotional and tiring.


Today, I found a wonderful church where I will now be attending on my vacation days when I'm in town. It will be my second-church, my back-up church. It was not only a friendly church; it was also a welcoming church. You may think those are the same thing, but they're not. Many churches are friendly-- friendly to those they know. They'll say "Hi" to you. They'll smile at you. But they are not welcoming....embracing those they don't know or aren't comfortable with. This one was both. And I got great coffee.

When I first entered the back-up church, I was greeted by an usher and handed THEE worship folder-- the worship folder like all other worship folders. This is where churches need to "work-it-out". Let's come up with something different...How about no worship folder? GASP! Everything's on-screen, anyway. Or, let's print the worship order on the inside of the styrofoam coffee cups. As people sip their coffee, they get to see the worship order. Drink faster!! Don't burn your mouth! Ahhh, but that's not all a worship folder is. It's a newspaper as well. It's the most logical way to get information people ignore into their hands that they'll then throw away.

The next person to greet me was the jovial pastor. He seemed a little put-off that I was an employee of another church and wouldn't be attending his church full-time, but he was welcoming enough. He was a great sermonizer. Very "of-the-people". Following the service, a wonderful woman approached me and we discussed the church. It was sad to see that this beautiful new church building wasn't full. I expected it to be packed to the hilt. I expected to see children running all over the place. I didn't. It's easy as an outsider to walk into a new place and see all the things they could be doing to bring more people to Christ.

All in all, it was a great experience. I haven't worshiped, in the traditional sense of the word, for over a year. Because Sunday I'm pulling bag worms off the trees. Or fixing a toilet.