church baby

Tonight was the big dinner celebration for my church's centennial. It was a big todo, and I saw many dear friends... but that's not really what i want to discuss.

I was thinking tonight that I am a church baby. When I was a baby I was, most likely, past from hand to hand, lap to lap, among the people of our church. I recall helping to collate, fold and staple mailings in the church office from a young age... and then being taken to the subway on Nicollet ave. with my mom for lunch by the minister.

Any of this sounding familiar yet?

After confirmation I was snatched up by the Mission Board to serve as a committee member as a 9th grader (I remember feeling very unqualified to determine where money should be spent, and switched to the music and arts board as soon as I could!).

I sang in church, I asked for prayers and made announcements. I was active in youth group and choir and babysat for many families in our community. Eventually I even subed as secretary during the summer months.

If you are a church baby, you know what I'm talking about.

And I realized that once I have quit working as a church secretary, I'm going to need church more than I have in recent years. Without the familiar sense of wacky community and tradition based organization, I know I would flounder and maybe lose my way.

So wish me luck in Maine. I may have to do a little church shopping to find the right temporary church home.

Friday Five: The Perfect Blendship

It's been awhile, so I'm gonna try and jump back in with a Friday Five, a little late in the day (but cut me some slack - I had to get the bulletin done first!)

If you're ever in a jam, here I am. If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S. If you're so happy, you land in jail. I'm your bail. It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship. When other friendships are soon forgot, ours will still be hot.


Rev. Songbird at RevGalBlogPals writes: I'm thinking a lot about friends these days, the ones who rush to you in times of trouble, with a casserole or a socket wrench or an invitation for coffee or lunch or a trip to the foot sanctuary. We meet friends in school or on the playground or at church or in the workplace and even on the Internet. Even as blogging has experienced some decline, the community here has been strong.
For today's Friday Five, some questions about friendship.
1) Who is the first friend you remember from childhood? This may be cheating a little, because I vaguely remember playing with other children before this, but these are the first three real friends I remember. Real because they were who I first remember having that feeling of “Oh, I have to tell ____ about that as soon as I see them!” They were Phil, who lived down the block from me, and Lynn and Sharon who lived near by, were in my kindergarten class and later brownies. I have lost touch with Phil over the years, though when I have run into him I still think I had good taste in friends as a three year old! Lynn and Sharon are still two of my best friends – Sharon and I went out for drinks this last week, and I realized that I don’t just like hanging out with her because she’s known me most of my life, but because she is genuinely fun and down to earth and makes me laugh!

2) Have you ever received an unexpected gift from a friend? My BFFffff, Lydia, is one of the sweetest people in the world. Seriously. Take your grandma and multiply the sweetness. When Lyd was in college down in Iowa, we hardly ever got to see each other (compounded by the fact that she is my polar opposite, as I am sloth-like and she is a continuous ball of energy, so she is always on the go!). But she would sneakily put little notes with quotes, sometimes biblical, into my purse or school binders so that I wouldn’t find them right away. It always seemed that I would find them just when I needed her, which was a wonderful gift.

3) Is there an old friend you wish you could find again? Or have you found one via social media or the Internet? I have certainly reconnected with many old friends via facebook, but none that I have really been able to reform a strong bond with. I have one friend who I would love to get in touch with, another brownie pal, but she doesn’t appear to be on the interwebs. However, the silly thing is that her family’s name is theirs alone and her parents are listed – I could even just drive to their house since it’s the one she grew up in. But for some reason and I never reach out that far…

4) Do you like to get your good friends together in a group, or do you prefer your friends one on one? I do like group activities once and a while (karaoke anyone?), but I really like hanging out with just one or two friends at a time. I am a Capricorn through and through, so I don’t have that many good friends to begin with.

5) Does the idea of Jesus as a friend resonate with you? Yes and no. Yes when I sing songs like What a Friend We Have in Jesus. I guess it really feels more abstract… when Lydia does something so kind for me, or Sharon asks me how I’m doing, wanting to know the real answer, I see and feel Jesus in those actions, the actions of friends.

No because I often feel a bit maternal towards him. Is that weird? Maybe it’s just the Christmas fever I’ve got talking, but first Jesus is this little baby who, like all babies, reminds us of what it means to be human, bringing it down to a basic, primal level. Then Jesus grows up and says, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” And that makes me think of the way we try to help cloth and feed the poor and bring comfort to the suffering, which are all acts that connect me with my maternal nature. So yeah, I guess part friend part child part parent… man, that Jesus gets around!

the picture above is Lydia and me out to lunch during her graduation weekend