Headed home from a Thanksgiving weekend in Oman. It was fun to get away and see our friends, but now that we are within striking distance of home and I’m back on 4G, it’s time to write before these things disappear into the mists of my memory. 
Last week I wrote about anticipating another visit to church 2.0. Great news, I didn’t get lost. Between Waze and Carter, it was a breeze. Parking is actually easier at this place because the mall is totally empty on Friday mornings and we have our pick of spots. It’s refreshing to arrive at church and not be hating on all the people there for being lazy and rude drivers/parkers (blocking people in, parking illegally, blocking lanes — it doesn’t put me in a holy mood).
When we walked into church the welcomers had a plastic container of little black seeds and were offering them to everyone. I asked the lady what they were and she said, “Mustard seeds, take one.”
Oh great, what sort of weirdness is this? Some sort of natural medicine? A purification ritual? Are we supposed to eat it or hold on to it? I tucked it into my wallet and was about to google mustard seed religious ceremony, but got distracted by the very timely start of worship. 
These people may be full of woo with their healing seeds, but they know the way to my heart with a timely start!
I had my eagle eye ready for any other sign of weirdness, but worship was #totallynormal. There was a clear theme to the music again (nice) and we sang a mix of songs that I knew and didn’t know. A different service leader and worship team was up front, but nothing drastically different in style or content. Communion was normal, though I’m pretty sure it’s grape flavored drink which is icky compared to actual juice, but if we aren’t committed to using wine, then a grape-ish substitute of any kind is just as symbolic as Welch’s. And they cautioned against taking communion if you aren’t a believer, just the way they did in my home church growing up. So far, so good.
And that seed thing? The part I was afraid was woo? As the sermon began, the preacher asked, “who still has their mustard seed?” He commented that he was impressed by the number of people who were still holding onto it and gave credit to those who were adventurous and ate it. But the point of it all was a reminder that we are to care for what God has given us, regardless of its size or perceived importance. Because God can do great and unimaginable things with something that we might want to cast aside.
And of course he spoke about the Kingdom of God and what it means to be part of it and the parable of the mustard seed. Of course he did. If I hadn’t been on such high CrazyAlert I would have gone there automatically. Time to dial back my own crazy. 
A quick stop at the grocery store after service to pick up snacks for desert camping (my next post) and it was as easy of a morning as I could have hoped.