Moms visit and childhood memories of Chruch

Dear Church Family,
 
I was delighted to have my mom, Pat, join us this past Sunday morning. She visited 5 years ago, before I began ministerial school and has often commented on the loving people she met at our church. She was grateful for your embracing welcome during her visit. I am very grateful for the love, kindness and welcome you extended to her. While she has seen video's of past talks, she hadn't the experience of being present at a talk. I confessed early in the service I was feeling a bit anxious. However, prayer and faith gave me the confidence that all is well.
I have thought a lot about growing up in a large church in Dayton, Ohio. Our Sunday ritual was to wake early, my dad had a talk radio station blaring through the house. The radio host was a hell, fire & brimstone guy, who took questions, and answered them according to the literal interpretation of the Bible (which he knew well.) He offered a very narrow path to being faithful servant of God. We piled in the car, me already having a lot of resentment at the radio preacher (who was now blaring on the car radio), and at my parents for subjecting me to message I didn't want to hear. And as soon as arrived at church I was usually the first to jump out of the car and run to my friends and gain some distance from my parents. 
 
At church we first attended age appropriate Sunday School. My grade had 15-20 kids who I grew up with. Our youth group had around 150 kids, we felt empowered by our numbers and ability to create programs, events, fun with a good number of people. I felt empowered in their presence. We all complained about our parents and the unfairness of our age, life and challenges.
 
After Sunday School, we all attended church in the sanctuary which held around 800 to overflow capacity. We eventually held two services but as a youth group we sat together taking up the first 6 rows, much like Beci and Phil Rohkohl gather the children together on Sunday morning. We were blessed by a dynamic and charismatic minister who offered a moving message. Our minister wasn't hell, fire and brimstone, but he was big on sin and Satan. As I shared with you before, I realized at a young age I didn't have a chance to succeed in that world so I often tuned him out and found myself bored...I usually counted the individual letters in the bulletin. That is when I learned that "e" was the most used letter and "the" was the most used word in the English language. The minister always got my attention with the stories he told - they made the message applicable. I realize as a speaker I don't do that enough as the power of story is potent in our lives. I love to hear your stories about how you faced and overcame challenges, or even what your interests and experiences have taught you. 
 
While the minister's message was mostly lost on me, the music, power of numbers attending and idea that we came together as a church family was invigorating and supported me. By the time I got back to the car, I usually had let go of the resentment toward my parents (if even momentarily) and we went off to spend Sunday dinner. Where we would talk about everyone at church; affirming their goodness, judging their shortcomings, and overall being thankful that we were a part of something bigger than our family unit.
 
That feeling of gratitude continues for me till today. Grateful for that church experience. And grateful for the experience we create together today. This past Sunday reminded me how deeply I love you and this experience of being in church together. I am very grateful I could share this with my mom. Thank you for making it a sweet experience.
 
Many Blessings,
Pastor Robert
 
PS. I'll be on vacation this week, spending relaxing time with my mom and husband. Trust you have a healthy and blessed week!