History: Many of you {{being strangers and all}} do not know that I was raised in a Christian home. No one forced me to be Christian any more than they forced me to eat spaghetti and like it. Christianity was just part of what we did. I went to a religious-based school and I was raised by my grandmother who was the church organist, and treasurer, as well as a Sunday School teacher. "Church" was just part of every day life.
Somewhere along the way I went to college, got married, and had kids {{not necessarily in that order}}... and stopped going to church because I was too busy.
Sometime during the late summer of 2011 the Spirit moved me {{well... more like hit me over the head with a club}} to start going to church and this is probably the single best parenting decision I have made EVER.
Although I was raised and baptised Lutheran, we allowed our teen-aged daughter to find a church for our family. We felt like one of the main requirements was that she needed a place with peers whom she felt comfortable with and so we let her have a big say in where we went to church.
She found this Baptist church right down the street from our house and it has been the great fit that we have needed.
Here are some things that I like about our church, in no particular order.
1. The songs are great. They use real words that we all know. They are catchy. They are thought provoking and inspirational.
2. The sermons, albeit 30-45 minutes long, are inspirational as well. The pastor is a great speaker and I walk away with good information every single Sunday. My apologies to my past pastors - I am sorry for the glazed over look I had during your sermons; you started off great but always lost me mid-way through - sorry.
3. The kids can go to Sunday School WHILE I go to church. This might be the single best thing about this church and the main thing that keeps me going back. I don't have to work to keep my kids quiet during the service. They have their own Sunday School lesson while I get my lesson and we all leave recharged and re-energized at the end of the service. SCORE!
4. My kids -- all of them -- enjoy going to church on Sundays. Let's face it, it's no fun dragging your whole family out of bed bright and early for a bummer activity.
5. Our church offers tons of activities during the week to share with other Christians. We have traditional Bible study as well as a runner's group, a knitter's group, and so on. My kids and I all participate in the Wednesday evening activities. They have youth group and kids club while I... wait for it... go to a Mom's Group. The purpose of the mom's group is to encourage and equip moms to be the best moms that we can be. We have guest speakers, good food, and plenty fo tiem to chat. I feel like such a rejuvenated and re-energized mom when I leave my mom's group. Think about it? How do you feel on a mid-week night at the end of the night? Worn out? Exhausted? Tired? Like giving up? I used to feel that way but now I am totally re-energized for the rest of my week.
So, now you know a little bit more about my church and how going to church is impacting my family.
Does Dear Husband go to church with us? No. He does not. He was raised in a very strict Catholic church; although he does not want to go to a Catholic church, he says that this contemporary church feels more like a cult than a church. Ouch! He says that he would compromise and go to a Lutheran church. I still pray that he will attend church with us every so often.
Any advise on how to coerce my husband
into going to church with us is greatly appreciated.
3 comments:
As usual, I feel like I could do a whole post inspired by what you've written here. If I do, I'll let you know.
What a wonderful idea to have Lulu choose the church ... sounds like she found a great place.
I'm so grateful I was raised in a church, too. It gave me such a positive grounding - and I've often felt sorry for people who haven't had that experience. So kudos to you for giving this to your children, and yourself.
As for your husband ... tough one. Back in the day, my mom resorted to bribery. Dad was permitted to buy the nearly new Cadillac he wanted if he promised to go to church every Sunday for one year. The first month, it rained every Sunday. Everyone joked about it. By the end of that year, I think he was an Elder and in the choir.
Your grandfather was coerced into attending church several times over the year (against his will) but there was no specific plan.. I just worked on him for that particular Sunday..
And of course, one time he did embarass me.. Some poor soul in a dark brown suit went to communion, knelt down and leaned over and the seat of his pants was completely split.. He had on white underwear (thank Heaven he had on underwear!) and your grandfather found that quite amusing and had to be laughing out loud about it..
You didn't mention that you were the star of "Bible Trivia".. How do you think you would do in that game now? Hehehe.... Maybe somebody else could win once in a while!!
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