once upon a Sunday morning
The Sunday mornings of our present look nothing like the Sunday mornings of our past.
It’s just a church.
I know that.
Broken people. Imperfect leaders.
You know all the phrases.
So do I.
But
every
time
I am there
I cry.
I connect.
I get a glimpse of what I think church can look like.
And she is beautiful.
My past experiences with other churches have
not
been
great.
Little within the walls of those buildings to motivate me to haul multiple children out of a lazy morning.
More dead than alive.
And me too.
But this place
is not the same.
And neither am I.
Example One of How Much I Love This Church: When Kevin was out of town and Riley was out of town and I had an extra child at our house for the weekend, I gathered that whole small herd together and attended church by myself.
And that should be proof enough.
For 37 years I have regularly (mostly) attended church.
Of all kinds.
Presbyterian. Baptist. More Baptist. Non-denominational. Church of God. Independent. Disciples of Christ. Christian. Methodist.
I went because my momma carried me in her arms.
I went because my daddy said “as long as you live in my house, this is what we do on Sunday mornings”.
I went because my youth pastor was funny and engaging.
I went because the boy I thought was cute but who did not attend my school was a regular.
I went because I had to keep up appearances at my Baptist college where I served as Student Union vice-president.
I went because my husband was the youth minister.
I went because I was married to the pastor.
And it is a sad truth that in all of those years of church attendance,
rarely did I enjoy it.
It was an obligation to me.
It felt like a chore.
Because it was a chore.
But here we are.
All these years later.
All these lives we’ve lived later.
Here we are.
And this church is no longer a chore.
It’s not a burden.
Or an obligation to check off at the end (or the beginning) of a busy week.
It’s a gift.
And I am glad to be here.
And sorry that I have taken this long
to really believe
that church can be a holy place
where I can be both
lost
and
found.
4 Comments
Rebecca
What a beautiful post, Lacey! We're thankful for North Hills too, because, in spite of issues and problems and warts, it's a church of real people who love each other, led by leaders who, though they make mistakes, are humble and and open and truly *love God*!
Allie p
I remember when I used to be secretly happy when we had to miss church for some reason. I remember when Sunday wasn’t my favorite day of the week. Now, I count down days til Sunday. And if someone is sick, mark and I figure out which service we’re going to go to separately so we don’t have to miss it. And often, I download and relisten to the podcast. But it’s so much more than that. It’s the relationships. With messed up honest people. And the Spirits work has never been so evident. So blessed to be a part of this body!
Gretchen
It is so exciting to find a church family that you love!!! I am so excited for you guys! We are still looking, we went to where we go for Home school fellowship yesterday and we enjoyed it. The boys had a blast and well, that alone says a lot!
stephaniekandray.com
Very Inspiring. We're struggling to find that in a church right now. And, it's probably us and not the church that is lacking.
North Hills, I've heard of that church. My sister in law lives in Greer, I think that's pretty close. We're going to visit them in a couple of weeks and I haven't spent much time in SC, even though we have lived in NC for 4 years, but I am excited to see the area in the mere 24 hours we'll be there.