Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Today was awesome, as Sundays almost always are for me now. It didn't start quite how I'd've liked because I went back to sleep after my alarm went off and I woke up at 6:07 AM. I prefer to arrive by 6:30, so obviously I was going to be MUCH later than normal (even though I wouldn't technically be "late" until after 7:15, I like to be really early because the early birds all get together in Pastor Rob's office and pray AND because arriving early helps me feel more collected and focused). I wasn't late by actual standards; I was there by 7:05. But I was later than I like to be.

The most annoying thing about having fallen back asleep, however, wasn't that it made me late. It's that I woke up turned facedown, which meant I had a nasty backache because I do NOT normally sleep on my stomach, and it meant that I had a particularly virulent case of rack-face that would NOT go away. Even after my shower and blow-dry and getting dressed and makeup, I looked in the rear-view mirror at myself while I was driving to church and I could still plainly see the sheet-marks on the right side of my face. It might as well have been a flashing neon sign. Grrrr. No-one said anything about it, however, so maybe it had finally disappeared by the time I arrived. Or maybe they just all felt too embarrassed to mention it.

We did "Count Your Blessings" again; this time Jeff had asked me to add a very light rock organ sound in the background. It wasn't too bad, I guess, but I am ultra-invested in that song and I don't want to do ANYTHING that might possibly ruin the sound of it. I should probably lighten up about it, but it's important to me.

I did quite a bit of switching between keyboards today, which really made me feel like Paul Schaffer (heh) and I got to have fun with that organ-sound on a couple of the rockin' numbers... several fun glissandos and lots of screamin' chords. Woot! Then we rolled into a mellower, more melodic couple of songs to finish out the set.

This evening I was chatting with a friend who prefers the Sunday night style over the Sunday morning style, and I wanted to make a point with this person. I explained that, in comparison to what I've struggled through for the past nine years prior to arriving at FCC, the Sunday morning worship was a total jam session. Don't get me wrong; we musicians at The Other Place were really trying, giving it our whole hearts, wanting to make worship all it could be. But we were severely limited by many factors -- church leadership, lack of experience, lack of a clear worship leader, lack of a viable sound system, etc. -- and it just never gelled like we'd always wanted. So anyway, I was explaining to my friend that when I was up on stage smiling hugely (which I almost always am), it was because of sheer, uninhibited joy at the privilege of making music (Stratman was in the congregation this morning and told me later that my smile was the biggest thing on stage and really hard to miss because it radiated -- made me happy to hear that!). If tomorrow they told me I couldn't play there anymore, I'd be disappointed, but I would've known that God had given me that experience for a season and I'd be incredibly grateful for it.

One of the main differences in Sunday morning and Sunday night (besides the style and volume level... heh) is that SoulFire is always the same people with the same sound guy, so we're all quite a bit more familiar with one another's style and body language and cues and such. On Sunday mornings, the musicians and singers rotate in and out from week to week (except for Jeff & me), so it's never quite the same mix of voices and instruments and musicians. That makes it a little more complicated... but the people there are so incredibly talented and do a great job of overcoming it.

Pastor Rob's sermon was, well, interesting. At one point he wheeled out a small flatbed cart with a TOILET on it (I thought of Lair Simon immediately, of course). He was talking about temptation and how giving in to it is like being inside a flushing toilet because you can't grab onto the slick sides and because you're headed for the sewer in the end. He actually made it sound much better than I'm able to describe; he's a pretty decent speaker. At one point he sort-of SAT on the side of the thing, which was just NOT a visual image I wanted to have of my pastor! GAH! My eyes! This was the first of three disturbing mental pictures I'm having to try hard to erase from my mind; the second one came after the service was over and Jeff put a microphone bag on his head like an army hat while we were tidying up the stage -- he's a subtle sort of guy but has this quiet and sudden sense of dorky humor that just pops up at unexpected moments and catches me off guard. The third actually happened on my way BACK to church this afternoon; a couple was crossing a very busy street right in front of me while I was waiting at a stoplight, and the husband was dressed in a PINK SUIT. Not mauve, not dusty-rose... PINK. Lovely, baby PINK. He seemed rather proud of it, too. It wasn't the kind of suit that was a joke or a prop, and it was the wrong time of day and the wrong location for it to have been a bride's ghastly choice in wedding party attire. No, this was the real deal and he was sporting it to the max. [shudder] Someone call the "What Not To Wear" people, QUICK!

Lunch was at our favorite Chinese buffet. The fortune cookies at this restaurant are so very efficient and helpful; you get a fortune, a set of lucky numbers AND a Chinese language lesson. My fortune cookie said, "Your ideals are well within your reach." My Lucky Numbers are 6, 17, 20, 33, 34, and 41. And if you've always wanted to know how to say "Stamp" in Chinese, it's pronounced "You-piao."

Today I really did almost spend the entire day at church. This was "Base Class Sunday," which means that the core classes were being offered during the afternoon. FCC has four base classes which they offer every couple of months or so in a three-hour session on Sunday afternoon. After you complete first base, or "101" which is "Getting to Know FCC," you can join the church. Then you go through "201" (Discipleship), "301" (Ministry) and "401" (Missions). They're working on putting together a "501" class specifically pertaining to worship, but it's not done yet. Anyway, Rick went through the "101" class today, which meant that we're now ready to officially join the church. Cindy & I did "201." The class started at 2:30 and was supposed to go til 5:30, but I had SoulFire practice so I left at 4:30.

Sunday night is geared specifically for the youth group, and tonight the fifth graders got to join in (which means Martha's now in the youth group -- GAH!). SoulFire rocked the house, as usual. I love those guys, can I just say that? Playing music with them is effortless, liberating, intense and FUN. We work very well together. I hope they never regret asking me to join them; I certainly will never regret joining them. Tim never ceases to amaze me with his range of skill and artistic gifts -- vocal, instrumental, visual... he's really young (24, I believe) but he's stunningly talented and so very committed to God's glory. It's humbling to play with him. We did one of his originals during worship tonight ("Surrender"), which I love playing.

Okay, this post has take me nearly two hours to write, and now I'm finally tired. When I got home, I was still zinging and pinging with excitement (even though I had been at church all day with NO NAP) from having played... it's hard for me to wind down and come back to earth on Sunday nights after church. After inflicting a horribly long post on all of you faithful readers, I finally feel de-briefed and ready to hit the hay. Nitey-nite, y'all, and sweet dreams. I plan on a few, myself.