Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

What a nice day it was today! I wish everyone could be as happy at their church as I am at mine. And this statement is coming from a person who's seen her share of unpleasant churches (which is totally and completely pathetic... and wholly unrepresentative of what Jesus is all about, for that matter).

What I like about my church:

• People are genuinely nice and love each other.
  
• People are actually excited about what's going on.
  
• People aren't nosy and gossipy.
  
• People may disagree about methods and such, but they're willing to lay it aside when necessary.
  
• People are deeply committed to serving God.
  
• People are deeply committed to seeing their friends' and neighbors' lives transformed.
  
• There doesn't seem to be an abundance of people who have "always done it this way before."
  
• Those in leadership are honest, accountable, and aware of their own flaws.
  
• Things are HAPPENING. ALL the time. Nothing is stagnant. And none of it is focused on "making FCC bigger." Everything is focused on what God is doing in our own lives and in the lives of people in the community.
  

If you live anywhere in the area, you could certainly do worse than to show up some Sunday. It's gotten big enough now that you could even be "anonymous" if you really wanted to. Although I'd love it if you'd sneak up to me afterwards and say hello... I'm the short, amply-built piano player.

Music this morning went very smoothly -- Jeff had to switch from the Taylor to the Takamine because the G-string broke, but he's really good at making light comedy out of incidents like that. I think his extensive background in radio has fostered that skill for him; not only is he funny, but he can make quick switches and transitions AND his speaking voice is well-enunciated and easy to understand. It's refreshing to work with him.

One of the church members, Kevin Mayer, did the message today (and last week as well). I really enjoy listening to Kevin; he's very matter-of-fact, with dry humor and a self-effacing manner, and he uses lots of fun props. Visuals are key for people like me who need some kind of "hook" to be able to listen to someone. Anyway, Kevin's a great guy. His wife Pat is the kind of artist I could only dream of being; she did this incredible mural for one wall of the church that I will post a picture of sometime here. I've never seen anything quite like it and it's just breathtaking. I'm telling you, it's worth it to come to the church building sometime just to see that mural (Brett, you have GOT to see it -- I'm serious -- and you KNOW that I have a pretty critical eye when it comes to art).

On Tuesday I'll post a photo of the project I just completed last week, and I'm hoping that in a few days I'll be able to post progress photos of the project I'm currently working on. After this next week, I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to painting, although I have to say that it has been such an effective outlet for my emotional focus that I may just make it a regular part of my day.

This evening, Rick and I attended a meeting at church. We've been asked to help coordinate some things this fall, and I'm actually excited about doing it. I'm going to be able to plan some of the worship services; it's encouraging to be asked to do what we're doing. In most places I've been in, you only get asked to head up teams and committees if you show up regularly... but here, there has to be a pretty decent level of trust from the leadership. I'm humbled to have that much trust placed in me.