We didn’t go to church last Friday (Sunday) because Josh was in Lebanon and I didn’t want to take the kids to church by myself when I knew that I’d end up outside wandering around in the heat with the baby. She’s fine as long as the singing lasts, but when it gets quiet and the pastor starts praying, she starts “talking.” Loudly. Taking her outside meant that the boys would be left unchaperoned in the service and if I have to soothe a tired baby, I’d rather do it from the airconditioned comfort of my own home than get everyone dressed and fed and drive 10 minutes for the non-privilege of sweating through my wrap as baby and I do laps around the church building.
So all that to say that we were out of the loop as we arrived at church yesterday, Sunday — I mean Friday. We were about 5 minutes late and we walk in to hear the worship band playing and singing, but the building was only about 1/2 filled when it’s normally standing room only. We sit down and whisper to each other how strange it is that only a few people seem to be singing or paying attention when we hear the worship leader address the band saying, “that sounds great. See you back here in 20 minutes.” Ugh, it’s a combined service day. 1 service means SUPER-CROWDED and it starts at 9:30 instead of 9 and 11. On the bright side, being ultra-early means that it’s easy to find somewhere to sit.
Since they have about 30 minutes to kill, the boys go wander around outside for a while, Josh plays a game on his touch, and I calculate that about the time the service starts is going to be the time that Camille gets restless and wants to go walk around. Yipee for me. Meanwhile the church is filling up with people who look extra dressed up. Lots of tribal clothes and headpieces, extra sparkly saris, there’s even a girl wearing a cute skirt and bonnet who looks like she stepped right out of a “Welcome to Holland” postcard. I look at the program and see that it’s Pentecost so I figure that people must be dressed up to celebrate the holiday they way they did for Easter.
Josh goes to get the boys because service is about to start and comes back empty-handed, saying the kids are all doing a march of countries with flags and things and the boys agreed to help out. Sweet.
So church finally starts. I’m picturing all the kids marching in together waving flags of different countries to celebrate how on Pentecost the Holy Spirit allowed the disciples to preach in the languages of the world. Well, that’s sort of how it went. Because our congregation has members from 60 bazillion different countries it turns out that the kids from each individual country marched in carrying their own flag and wearing the traditional dress of their own country. Uh oh. Now I get why everyone is dressed “uniquely” today. And I look at Josh and myself and realize why the pastor’s wife asked where we were from. We’re both wearing head to toe blue and white and both in flip-flops — unintentionally matching. She must have been surprised when we replied “the US” since there was not a speck of red to be seen on either of us. Who we’re really representing is the country of REI, since aside from our flips, every piece of our clothing hails from there.
So the parade starts with all the countries of Africa — Ghana, Rwanda, Chad, South Africa, etc . . . as each country is announced the congregation cheers and the kids proudly march in, flags waving high, in beautiful bright geometric prints and striped robes. Josh and I jokingly wonder if our kids will be holding the US flag or if they’re going to put them with any old white country. Then the Asian countries are listed — Philippines, Korea, Japan . . . some gorgeous kimonos, drapey, silky robes . . . beautiful. A few minutes later and a few continents later, they finally they get to the western countries and who do we have? Australia: There goes Calvin, by himself, in his “Not right now, I’m watching the game” t-shirt, weakly waving the Australian flag. Followed by Carter, representing New Zealand, thankfully wearing stylish Billabong button-down shirt and shorts. The kid knows how to dress. I think the Kiwis would approve. And finally, for the good old US of A, we get Caleb in a ratty grey baseball t-shirt from Old Navy that is all stretched out in the neck because he keeps chewing on it. :sigh:
Then the kids all stood on stage and sang Jesus Loves the Little Children and Josh and I laughed so hard that we had tears in our eyes. You can see Caleb and Calvin off to the right. Carter is the little white faced speck wearing a white shirt just to the right of the cross in the back row. Way to represent, kids.
