Sweet Sunday

On Sunday Anna read the scripture passage right before the sermon.  In front of the entire church.


She was super nervous, but did a great job.  We were so proud of her!


I  love getting to see my kids take part in the church service.  Last year, during advent, they got to serve as candlelighters one week.  I don't know if I've ever seen them concentrate as hard as they did carrying the huge (lighted!) candle lighter thingy all the way up the aisle!  (Needless to say, I'm glad they were concentrating.  :) )

Faith is so real to my children.  I'm not just saying that, it's really true.  They all love Jesus.  They all love church and it is such a safe, happy place for them to be.  Which is as it should be.  They joyfully help with tear-down nearly every Sunday after the service--I honestly don't know how much "help" it actually is, but they at least are able to put a thing or two away.  (We meet at a college campus and don't have our own building.)  Two weeks ago, this may or may not have resulted in a child accidentally spilling wine all over themselves.  But, it's worth it. 


Kids learn a lot about God through church.  For better or worse.  And not necessarily from the lesson, either.  They learn from the prayer times and from the liturgy and from the people.  Maybe especially from the people.  They learn through observing the sacraments and rejoicing in the sweet baby girl's baptism we saw yesterday.  They learn through the confession of sin we do every single week.  I'd say they are learning to love God, but really, they already do.  I suppose instead I'll say that they are learning about what life with God looks like, what it means to worship Him and that you do that in many different ways.


It is so surreal to sit back and watch your children enjoying God.  Surreal in an amazing, wonderful, I-am-so-blessed sort of way.  Seeing my kids get older is so bittersweet, but on days like this one, it was all sweet.

My big girl before church.  She really was smiling, but it looks more like squinting because of the sun.  :)


Kevin and I give a lot of thought to what we teach our kiddos about Jesus, God, faith and the Bible.  I pray my children will continue to have soft hearts for God, and that we as their parents will have wisdom in training them up in the way they should go.  And even though our church is in the midst of some major transition right now (and it pretty much has been ever since we began attending two and a half years ago, which is mildly frustrating), it has been a pretty great place for us to land.  It was just what we needed.  (More on that later, perhaps.)  And the people there have embraced our family in a way that is far beyond what I could have imagined.


Who knows how long we'll be in this particular faith community--no plans to go anywhere, and I don't think going from church to church is really the intention, so I'm just talking out loud--but I do know that it will always hold a pretty special place in my kids' hearts.  A solid piece of their journey to love and know God and "work out their salvation".  I certainly don't think your spiritual life is reduced to what you do at church, by any means, but I do think Jesus intended it to be a pretty big component.  


So it's awesome seeing my kids wholeheartedly embrace this part of their faith in such a beautiful way.  On Sunday, I got to see my daughter reading to our church about creation from God's Word.  Be still my heart.