It’s a good thing we’re forgiven, because here I sit at home on Good Friday morning while church is finishing up. Oh, we went, but underestimated how many other people would also be going to church at the same time, with limited parking available.
My biggest complaint about our church is lack of parking. It’s a weekly problem, but in general we show up, park a few blocks away and hike in. No big deal. The church has a parking lot with about 25 spaces that people cram 50 cars into, but that doesn’t work for a church of 1200. It’s next to a residential neighborhood marked with tow zones up and down both sides of the street for non-residents. People seem to ignore that and I’ve never seen a tow truck, so maybe they’re safe. There’s a small school parking lot across the street and some parking near official buildings, but getting a spot is terrible any day of the week.
On occasion we have done the circle for 20 minutes and found a spot and once or twice we’ve circled for twenty, then abandoned ship and gone to breakfast. One time when Josh was out of town it was so crowded that I dropped the boys off in front of church and went to find parking on my own. After 15 more minutes of circling I couldn’t find anything so I texted them that I was going home. Carter is still mad about that one. In my defense, I was sick and they had youth group after service so there was no harm in leaving them behind.
Well today, Good Friday, we drove around for 30 minutes along with at least 200 other cars — the streets were jammed with people parked in illegal spots, tow zones, or on the sidewalk. Any regular spots? Forget it. My plan to arrive as people were leaving first service didn’t pan out. Usually we can spot someone, follow them to their car and slide in as they drive out. Maybe those church attenders never left and are all still chatting? We saw people on foot arriving from all directions. Not just to our church, but there’s a huge mosque, and an Orthodox church or two that also meet in this 4 block radius. The masses looked like ants, coming for sugar.
Josh was also sharking for a spot (doing the slow roll down the streets, looking for an opening) since Caleb had an early rugby game this morning and we were in separate cars. We were updating each other on our non-progress by phone as we inched along. I figured if Josh couldn’t find a parking place then all hope was lost.
We finally decided to bail 30 minutes into the service since coming in that late would be a distraction to everyone who actually made it on time. Next year, we’ll take a cab. Thankfully, He is Risen and we are not condemned for missing church. Now to figure out how to tackle Sunday morning Easter sunrise service (a normal work/school day here). Will it be crowded? Not so bad? All those first year unknowns. Inshallah, we will be seated before the service begins.