It's a Small World (When You're a Medium Sized Church)

This is an update to my previous blog. Since it was picked up as an eCorn article and appeared in the bulletin as a Reality Check, and because people are kind and have been asking me how the transition is working out, I thought I would give you a few of my thoughts on making the move to Sunday:

First, I have not quite got the rhythm of Sundays yet. I mentioned showing up “fresh and ready to worship” in the last blog, but in reality I have not mastered getting out the door at 8:30 dressed and with dry hair too well. I’m doing it, but I’m not perky. My friend Carol suggested between the services on Sunday that I need to develop some new habits. This is true. While having an al fresco dinner at 9pm and engaging in a late night conversation is very appealing to me on Saturday night, Sunday morning it appears to have been a bad idea. I am still used to thinking of Sunday mornings as a time to sleep in and do the crossword puzzle with a cup of coffee. Maybe I just need to give the 11 o’clock service a try. However, I really do enjoy “waking up” with the fuller congregation singing praises and hearing the Word. It beats the news any morning.

Second, I have really enjoyed getting to mingle after the service, meeting some new people and seeing some friends (like Carol) who never came to Saturday nights. We happened to sit near Tim and Emily the last few weeks. They are new to Folsom and it’s nice to be able to Pass the Peace or exchange greetings with people who are becoming familiar faces to us. I met Annie while we were both foraging for breakfast. We discovered that neither of us likes to eat when we first wake up and we were giving thanks for the very convenient fruit and muffins that the kitchen team brought out. This week I met Kevin (who happens to have married Melissa who I’ve known for years). I found out they are buying a house just a few blocks from where my son and daughter-in-law live and that he’s a fellow Aggie – lots of ways we’re connected to each other.

Third, I have to admit that having Saturday nights free finally allowed us to head to Midtown for the 2nd Saturday Art Walk this past weekend. This is something we enjoy, but it has been nearly impossible when we had commitments to the Saturday service. One of our stops was to visit the studio of two Oak Hillians, Allison Carlos and Randy Blasquez. It was great to see their space, look at their art and it felt very cool to know “real” artists. As we left their gallery and headed down the street a woman driving past yelled out “Hi Valerie!” We stopped and waved back as Jennifer Whitney and her boys went past looking for a parking spot. At another gallery, which was packed with people, I wondered if I stopped looking at the art and looked at the people if I would see someone I knew. Sure enough, Richard Young walked by. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen Richard and his brother Matthew (who also came up to say Hi), but they grew up at Oak Hills and we reminisced about them climbing the trees out on our property while their dad Robert helped us build our house (20 years ago). So, why am I mentioning this? Well, it’s a small world. You don’t have to go to Saturday night to find Oak Hillians. They are out there, living their lives, and it’s a great joy to run across them!

I was hoping that this transition would mean more community and more connection with people, and so far that is happening for me (both in and out of the services). But I do have to be intentional to stay and hang out, to make the effort to meet at least one person who is new to me and to give myself time to enjoy an old friend over my Sunday morning breakfast. I'd be interested to know how you're engaging with the time between services or how you feel about our last all-church service. Let me know and definitely come up and say "Hi" next week.