My Ode to Taber E-free

Today I went to church. Wow I said it, it's been almost a year since this has occured. I can't believe how long you can go and not realize it. The last time Kev and I attended church was Kevin's baptism... I know, I know what does that say about fire insurance. But anyway today I went to Kensington Road church to hear our friend Mara preach. The sermon was great, music was blah, but I kept thinking about my old church since the church layout was so similar to it. Hard pews with old carpet and a centre aisle down the middle...

Jodie, Jen, Shauna Richelle and I sitting in the front row, all bibles in hand listening intently to the morning anouncements. Hal Reed playing the banjo and Mr. Macculey on a steel guitar, the music didn't sound great but we knew every word by heart. We worshiped with our hands in the air, in our jeans and hoodies and sang along with all the other offkey voices. After worship, it was time for sharing. As each person stood up to tell of some news of cancer, or a miscarriage or answered prayer through extrordinary circumstances or who's inlaws had come into town and had to make the announcement because they were sitting at the end of the pew, we knew each person. In fact each face was familar down to the old man in the back who never stands for worship, the family with now 11 kids who didn't believe in birth control, and the family that had been divorced, remarried and now divorced again.
When Pastor Gartly went to the stand we gave a look of admiration, because we respected him, his honesty, openess and always the same countenance even in the face of shock circumstances. (It wasn't his preaching that we loved) He often went off on a greek tangent or spoke in accedemic language that wasn't grasped by theology majors in attendence, but he loved his flock and got to know them all. Including those outside the congregation. The husbands of believers who won't go to church. (He still visits my dad). He even did a house visit when I was in a pit of depression at 17 and enable to get out. His prayers for me with my family were a life preserver at a dark time.
Pastor Gartly tried to get the church out by twelve o'clock if he didn't he would have a stark reminder by the grain train that whistled by promply at noon, disengaging all particpants in hearing his final point. After the sermon was done Mrs. Reed would play a recessional song on the piano that seemed to last an hour and us girls would sit and chat often that long. We were the last to leave the sanctuary, and having at least half of the old people come and hug us, tell us they were praying for us and wanting to hear our lastest rite of high school passage it often took that long to get out. All of the kids seemed to come by offer hugs and giggles while we silently thanked God we got off the Sunday school teachers train in jr. high.
When we finally left the church to go work on homework or head off to Sev for some post church slurpees we thought church was nothing out of the ordinary, taking our expirence for granted and wanting nothing more than to graduate and blow off the small town, for bible school and other christian opportunities that would bring us closer to God...
hmmmm.
i miss church, I hope i could come back to place like that again

posted by ash @ 6:13 PM Comments: 3