If you remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about my spiritual struggle. Well … I’m no longer struggling. We took the advice of pretty much everyone and tried out a new church on Sunday.
Wow.
All I can say is that the buzzing atmosphere alone when we first walked in was completely different than “our” church. And the kids! There were kids everywhere!! At our church, I could probably count the number of kids on two hands. There were too many to count at this new church. And there’s a PreK Sunday School class. With three teachers. The only option at our church is the nursery.
The minister is a young guy (with a Southern accent heh) who has a lot of energy and seemed to be fairly upbeat. His sermon was short and to the point. The hymns were upbeat. The woman sitting next to us kept looking over at us with the three kids (who stayed upstairs for the entire service) and smiling. She was super nice and chatted with us afterward about how things work and some opportunities and things.
The second-in-command minister (I have no idea what her actual title is) recognized us as new people and came over after the service to chat and give us a tour! She brought us down to the nursery and to see the PreK room and to meet all of the teachers. They have a (paid) dedicated woman in the nursery and then members rotate through the Sundays to help out…there is never just one adult with any of the kids at any time. Same with all of the Sunday school classes.
They have a whole system for dropping off and picking up kids, and they keep the kids – both in the nursery and in Sunday school – THROUGH coffee hour!! Mike and I can hold adult conversations without interruption! Holy cow.
I didn’t really realize how uptight I was about the whole thing until the peaceful, relaxing feeling came over me when we got home that afternoon. It’s amazing what you realize after the fact.
The clincher for me though, is that this church says “trespasses” during the Lord’s Prayer instead of “debts” LOL Since I grew up with the “trespasses” version, my brain freezes a bit when we hit the “debts” part at our church.
…Or should I say, our old church.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: church, peace, spiritual guidance |
The Zimmer Zoo 
Good for you Nancy.
I have to say, I’ve never been much of a church or religious person, but I don’t want our girls to miss out because of me. We went to church, as a family, for the first time this past Saturday evening. I know that you guys were going through a whole different situation regarding your former church, but when you said “the peaceful, relaxing feeling came over me when we got home that afternoon”, it really resonated with how I felt afterwards. Who knows if it will last, but I’m making the attempt.
Good luck and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
YAY! That is great news!!!!
I feel that way about our church and it makes a lot of things a lot better to have a church you like and definitely to have a safe place to leave your babies!
So glad to hear that you have found peace! And what a blessing of finding the right church! Good for you!
Email me with where the church is. I’m looking for a close congretationalist one. Debts is more typical in protestant churches than trespasses but whatever!
Sounds terrific! I love the tradition and routine of Catholic church, but I find myself very jealous of other denominations with nurseries and sunday school during mass (we have sunday school starting at 3, but it is expected to be in addition to the children attending mass which is really just a nightmare).
Wow, this sounds great. I believe one should worship where you feel at home . And it sounds like you feel at home in the new church. H and I broke away from our old church a few years ago to my mom’s dismay – just to another congregation, not another church. And now, she understands. We are really happy there.
Wow, that sounds great. You can hear the excitement in the post. We are from a protestant background so I am use to the children’s programs like you mention, in fact I work in them 😉 Nothing better for parents than to know their kids are in a well run, safe environment. Good for you and the kiddos.
That’s great Nancy! We feel that way about our church too…after years of searching and trying out different churches, we finally feel at home. It’s so great to look forward to church again!
This is great!! I’m a bit jealous you found a new one you love so fast…but am also very happy for you and your family.
I have never heard debts before. I have only heard trespasses. I am so glad you are liking your new church! I am glad they made you feel welcome!
I’m glad you found a church you feel at home in.
Funny thing: The passed few Sundays our pastor has been preaching on the Lord’s Prayer and this week he totally had us laughing about how some people say Debts, some people say Sins, and some say Trespasses and how people get really quiet at that part b/c they don’t know which word to use. 🙂