Our First Church Sunday

A month ago, I found a website for a church that I thought Curtis and I would enjoy. It looked pretty liberal and focused on the main ideas rather than the details. Afterall the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. I e-mailed the church for directions and the pastor gave my e-mail to a person from our area who attends. Her name was Naomi and we spent a couple of weeks making plans to meet her on Sunday and then breaking them. We decided to meet on a non-church day so she could tell us how to get there and there wouldn't be as much pressure on Sunday morning.

We had coffee on Wednesday Jan 30th and I really liked her right away. I wanted to make it a priorty to get to church the following Sunday as we had already missed two opportunities to go. We met Naomi at a bus stop and then walked a block and a bit to catch the next bus. It was about 35 min on the bus and a 20 min walk. We found out that the church is held in an international school. Basically, lessons in English for children of foreigners.

The main pastor was actually on holiday in Thailand so we heard the youth pastor preach. His message was about unlocking your calling. He translated alot of greek for us and really did a great job all in all. The music was really good too. In short we were really impressed and felt really comfortable. Somethings seem a bit weird sometimes though. I always find myself really analyzing everything on my first visit to a church. I note the songs that are really repetative (thanks Sharon!), the gender pronouns the speaker uses for God, or even the way the people in the church pray. This over critical view makes it hard for me to relax and enjoy church on any first visit, but incredibly enough I still felt renewed after this service. I think that's special.

There were also many people who wanted to meet us and greet us. It was great that so many people were welcoming, but it felt a little bit overwhelming too. Curtis was antsy to get back home as he had plans to meet up with his brother online and so it made conversation a bit awkward for him. The bus ride home was a bit tense because Curtis knew he was going to miss Clint. We often have troubles with the expectations either one of us has about our schedule. Oh no, I hear a Oprah voice in my head - COMUNICATION!!! Yes, yes, we know, but in practice it's so difficult so we are relying on forgiveness for now. Of course we never let it build up - but that doesn't mean everything is always peaches and roses.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home - I think Andrew may have stopped in. Nothing too exciting. The next week we knew would only be two days long!! We were both looking forward to the break ahead.