Today we went to visit a church that was honoring Jim's school. I have no idea whether there was a nursery (no one mentioned one to me and I didn't see any signs) and there wasn't any children's church for the kids to go to half way through the service. So for the entire service Jim and I had to contain all three kids. Keep in mind that at our church the kids only spend about 30ish minutes in the service.
They did ok at first. Then we hit the Children's Sermon (which was the longest one I think I have ever heard). Doug ran down the isle and back. Andy followed later, and Josie just does what her brothers do. I ended up squatting in front of the modesty rail giving the "evil eye" to my children to keep their behinds glued to the step.
Fortunately there was a little girl, who was probably about third grade, who was fascinated by the kids and "adopted" Doug (who spent much of the service with his head in her lap and her telling him fairy tales). Mercifully, Jim managed to get Josie to fall asleep for the last half of the service, but after about the first hour I waffled between trying to keep Andy from wrinkling every single offertory envelope, keeping him off the floor, keeping him from kicking the pew in front, keeping children from talking too loud, and wanting to sink into the pew because I was afraid of what people were thinking about the behavior of my children.
Then, to prove that there really is a God....I found out after the service that the little girl dancing and singing in the isle during the entire service...she was the daughter of the minister.
I feel much better.
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2 comments:
Somehow, church services like that are never as spiritually renewing for me...
Rest assured that you were probably far more disturbed by your children than anyone else in the sanctuary. And I love that the minister's daughter was dancing in the aisles!
That sounds about like what my kids do at church. D:
They have kids' classes and a nursery while the parents have gospel study classes, but not during the main worship services. I usually end up chasing my youngest down the aisle, and then we sit in the lobby for most of the services. They have a speaker out there, so we can hear what's going on, but it's not very worshipful.
However, I've been told by neighbors in the congregation that they love watching my kids; they make people laugh. (And I've been told more than once that they're glad it's me and not them. I'm not sure that makes me feel much better.)
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