The Congregational Meeting

I found this in my "edit" box and realized I had never published it! So even though it was written in January of 2009, I'm posting it now:

When people hear of a two hour meeting on a Friday night about the happenings and finances of a church, most don't think, "Oh, fun!" and mean it. But I also think that those people have not been to our church's congregational meetings. If you keep the right perspective and know what to look for, these meetings can be more entertaining than an episode of Gilmore Girls.

It begins with the arrival, as many things do. We all pull into the parking lot around 7:30 or 7:35 for the meeting and find our seats. I always like to sit next to a commentator. A commentator is a person (usually my dad or Uncle Dal or Uncle Dave) who will whisper jokes, comments, or sidebars during especially funny or boring moments. Tonight, I pulled up a chair next to Uncle Dal in a row inhabited by some of my other family members, ensuring plenty of running commentary.

Then we sing as a group. We sing a hymn and it ties us all together and reminds us of why we're there - to worship God in all things. We then pray to remind us again, that this is God's church and that all of our planning and preparing is nothing if God is not with us. I sometimes forget at work meetings that we don't start everything with prayer and it surprises me when our principal just up and starts talking during the meeting. And sometimes I bow my head in a Pavlovian response when we get to the end. Years of church training, I guess.

Then everyone talks about the reports of different committees and councils. This is where the love-fest begins. "Are their any questions about the youth ministry report?" "We love what they are doing!" That's it. That's how most discussions go. They are filled with thanks for what people have done and efforts made and how God has blessed us.

This evenings love-fest ended with Rev. Kellar (a retired pastor who fellowships with us) standing and speaking about how blessed we are as a congregation that we can meet peacefully, how our pastor is a peacemaker, how my dad, Mike, does an unusual ministry with the youth (that sentence drew snickers from our row...). How our music ministry and Diana Curtis are about worshipping God and not glorifying our abilities. How the instruments assist in worship rather than distract from it. Have you ever had your heart fill with love so that it is almost palpable? I get that way sometimes when I am with my church family and this was one of those moments. Rev. Kellar was praising God for our unified and blessed church and the blessed members were joining him. It was a good way to end the first half of the meeting.

The two halves are separated by the serving of pie in the kitchen. I get to help and I love seeing everyone and catching up. Maddie, who's 6, gets to tell me about how she plans on eating her pie from the inside out. Helen Hayden, who is one of the founding members of our church, selects a piece that she'll take home to save for later. We joke about how everyone is voted in unanimously to any position that we vote for. I whisper to my Uncle Tim, "I voted for you!" Which is true...Uncle Dal did too and added smiley faces and hearts to his ballot.

The second half is laborious but fun as we watch Dave Gekler try to speed it up as much as possible and then talk about potential changes that could be made to the church - each of which I am horrified by. The night usually ends with the statement, "Not until Brenda gets married!" Tonight's was talking about changing the lights in the sanctuary. "We can get rid of those ugly chandelier things." I gasped in horror and my thought was, "But they've been up there forever! They were up there for my parents' wedding and both my aunts'. They need to be their for mine!" and Uncle Dave came to my rescue by saying, "Not until Brenda gets married!" and we all laugh.

I think I love them because we all love each other so much. I know that I am related to so many of the members there, but they all feel like family. We know each other by face and name. We express our love for each other and we share in our desire to serve God most faithfully. What a great way to spend a Friday night.