Here are a few more things I love about my church.

We meet in a coffee house … in the part where there are usually rock concerts. It looks sort of industrial, but when we’re there it really is sacred space. I can’t explain it, it just is. Even when people walk right through the middle of communion to get to the bathrooms.

I love that worship is different (almost) every week. We use all of our senses. Here is a picture of what we did this week. We painted on fabric. We painted things that represented the bounty and freedom that we’re thankful for. I’m going to sew those pieces of fabric together to create a new cloth for the communion table that’s really ours. A cloth that in and of itself is worship and art. The paintings are drying on my schoolroom table now and I get to go in and stand in awe of their beauty.

I love the joy that greets me on everyone’s faces each week. One guy greeted me with this on Sunday morning, “Hello family!” and he meant it. I love that. There is grace there and love. To be sure, there are moments of strife and discomfort and all the other things that go along with family. But the umbrella that covers us is grace and joy.

I love that when I unwittingly disconnect the microphone from the cord and make faces, the teenagers come up to me afterwards and laugh with me about my faces. I love that my children are comfortable sitting with any other adult there during the service. And that all of the other adults will talk to my children and love them back.

I love my little church.