Mostly of Leavings

Most of you know that, since moving to Tallahassee, Dave and I have had a very hard time finding a church we want to settle in. The two major contenders have been a Methodist church and a Presbyterian (PCA) Church. While we especially loved the worship services of the Methodist church, the pastors (both the senior and the associate) left us bored, uninspired, and unchallenged by their sermons. The PCA church has a vibrant congregation and a pastor who strives to challenge his congregation to be better Christians, but the worship service is less our style and we have some variably serious issues with its doctrine. Since October or so we have opted for the PCA church, choosing to be slightly uncomfortable but inspired. Lately, however, our doctrinal concerns have been becoming more of an issue and we’ve become uncertain again.

This week, however, has added further upheaval into our churchy dilemma. First we found out (because we still get the newsletter) that both pastors of the Methodist church are leaving: the senior pastor is retiring and the associate pastor has been given his own church. So, in June, that church will have new pastors, giving us incentive to try that church again.

Today the pastor of the PCA church, the same man who began this church plant just five years ago and has led the growth of the church wholeheartedly, announced that he will be leaving to pastor a church plant and take a part-time teaching job at a Christian college in California. Though he is leaving on the best of terms, this certainly is a big step for this baby of a church.

So, no matter the outcome for us, a change is coming in our church life. We trust that God is using this change to reinvigorate our passion for Him and guide us in the right direction.

My good friend Katie is also experiencing change, though in a way that is becoming more and more normal to her.  Her husband, Bryan, left for his 2nd deployment today.  He’ll be gone for four months, but she is holding up extremely well.  I get to see her in March (and I can’t wait) but until then I’m sending long distance good thoughts to her.

Some things, however, continue to stay the same. Such as my crazy runnin’ husband. In training for the half Ironman he’ll be competing in this May he has run a road race almost every weekend this year. And this Saturday I finally got to see him (weather and timing has stopped me so far). And as always, he did fabulously (though he’ll tell you a different story), getting 3rd in a field of 411. Though he always wants to do better (desiring change), I am consistently proud of him.

Dave at the 2008 Run for the Cookies.

Out of Sorts

It’s Ash Wednesday.  I’ve always had a strong affinity for Ash Wednesday.  For me Lent is (in part) about renewal: washing away of the gunk that has accumulated in my spiritual life over the past year and re-focusing on my relationship with God.  Marking the beginning of this period with the solemnity of Ash Wednesday has always set the tone for the Lenten season.  I can’t remember the last time I did not attend an Ash Wednesday service.  But I won’t this year.

In part my absence from Ash Wednesday services tonight is due to my crazy teaching schedule.  I have a meeting at 5:30 and then will be teaching until 8, and I don’t know of a church that holds a “late service” for those of us with late schedules on Ash Wednesday.

But, in truth, I probably wouldn’t be going this year even if my night was free because the church that Dave and I have been attending since last September isn’t holding a service.  The main reason is that, as a new church, we don’t have an actual church building yet.  We’re currently meeting at a Seventh Day Adventist Church (since their services are on Saturdays), but we only have access to the church on Sundays, so no Ash Wednesday service. I wish I knew if they would have a service if they could; part of me thinks probably not.  Though I love so much about the church, their attempts to separate themselves from the traditional sometimes means that they lose sight of the beauty and importance in traditions like Ash Wednesday.  Sure there are people that go to the service without thinking about it because it’s just a tradition for them.  But for me, it’s about refocusing and re-remembering.  And the more I remember, the more I miss my traditions.

Hallelujah!

After 13 months of searching, it looks like Dave and I have finally found a church home! Ironically, we’d been considering going to this church for quite awhile and, for some reason, just never went. Mostly I think we stayed away because it seemed too different from what we were used to/what we preferred. But after over a year of trying out what we were used to and finding it lacking, we decided to give it a shot, sort of out of desperation. So today we went to CenterPoint Church. We thought it was nondenominational (which I didn’t like; I’m a fan of infrastructure) and found out during the service that it is actually Presbyterian. It’s a young, growing church that is currently meeting on Sundays in a local theater (which was actually pretty cool). They’ve been around for about 5 years and now have about 200 members. While the service was more contemporary than what I’m used to, it was still amazing. The congregation seemed alive throughout all of it, and the pastor seemed to speak straight to me (you can read his blog ). His sermon was better than any other I’ve heard in Tallahassee (you can listen to his sermons). He worked off of scripture but made it relevant, useful, and applicable to our lives today. After the service we introduced ourselves to the pastor who seemed genuinely joyful that we were there and told us that half of the church’s members are married couples between the ages of 22 and 35. He also introduced us to the Young Couples Director, who was equally joyful and welcoming and invited us to the married couples small group, which met tonight.

So, after having left church feeling so good about the experience, we went to the small group tonight, which met at a member’s house not far from our apartment. Just like on the first night we went to our small group in Bowling Green, I was incredibly nervous. But I was quickly made to feel comfortable. All of the couples were incredibly nice and very welcoming. Tonight was actually their first night back after a summer break, so they were really just catching up and getting to know the people new to the group (although none were as new to the church as us!). Even better is that they’re actually doing a study about the beliefs of the Presbyterian Church, which is handy since we only know the basics really. We stayed just chatting (interestingly in our own little male/female groups) for more than an hour after most people left. We left feeling more at home in Tallahassee than we ever have. We’re very much looking forward to being apart of this fabulous, growing church and feel certain that God kept us looking so that when we found this church, we would know it was where He wants us to be.

It’s Always Greener…

Since I have a week off from class now, I finally feel like I get to think of “non-scholarly” things, and one of the things I’ve thought a lot since we’ve been down here is church. After living in Tallahassee for almost a year, Dave and I have yet to find a church we feel settled in. We know a church we can go to where we really enjoy the fellowship we find there; the people are close to our age and make us feel more welcome than any other church ever has. Unfortunately, that church doesn’t do much for us spiritually. We don’t feel moved by the service. Then, we’ve found a church where we are moved spiritually by the style of worship, and we like the people though we haven’t found a “place for ourselves” in the church. But, we fall asleep every time the senior pastor delivers a sermon, which is most weeks. He’s just a very “blah” preacher. All of the churches in the area we’ve found that have a significant young, married couple population have a contemporary worship style, which is great, but not for Dave and I. We feel moved by tradition and hymns; they remind us of what it means to be a Christian and keep us connected to our Christ-centered roots.

Interestingly, all during our church-hopping, Dave and I have constantly felt like it would be so much easier to get involved in a church. While we have trouble finding a group for young married couples, especially in more traditional churches, every church we like has a strong children’s program and we could easily meet other parents. Today, however, I was reminded that the grass is always greener on the other side. A friend of mine in Bowling Green keeps a blog mostly for moms where she writes about the joys and dilemmas in being a parent. Her most recent post was about how having a baby (her son is almost 1) makes finding the “right” church all the more difficult because there are so many other factors involved. Her mom-friends all agreed. And they’re right. So, even though that knowledge doesn’t make it easier for us to find a church, it will help me realize that it’s hard for everyone. The more important the decision, the more stress involved. And there might not be a more difficult decision than finding the church that will grow you (and your children) spiritually. Hopefully we’ll find one soon.

Tomorrow Dave and I head to St. George Island for some much needed rest and relaxation. I can’t wait and really need the opportunity to just lay on the beach on not have to think! I am sad to have to leave Potter (I like spending time with the little guy, what can I say?:)), but it will also be nice to get to sleep as late as I want and not have to worry about him. But I know I’ll be glad to get back to him, too.:)

Oh, and sticking with our wedding theme and today’s church-theme, this picture is of Dave and I with our BG pastor, Dr. Powers, on our wedding day. I tell you what, some days I would pay money to hear a Dr. Powers sermon! He was very, very good to/for us.

What a Weekend!

Alright, so this might be a long blog, but as tonight is (supposedly) Potter’s first puppy training class, I’m sure I’ll have more to say tomorrow, so I’m just going to write all about this past weekend in one blog. And, after all, brevity has never been my strong suit:)

On Thursday, two of our favorite people, Ben and Beth, came to visit after having attended another of our favorite people, Stephen’s, graduation from Army Flight School (we’re so proud of him…and Nicole and Elijah, too!). Unfortunately, I have to leave for class about ten minutes after they got here, so Dave got to have them pretty much all to himself on Thursday.

But, on Friday, Dave had to work, so I took them around Tallahassee. We hit the main sites, enjoyed drinks and the best spinach dip ever sitting outside at Andrew’s, a downtown restaurant, and went to the top of our “uniquely shaped” capital building where we could see the oh-so-many sights Tallahassee has to offer (see above picture…that’s FSU’s campus to the right of the picture). The only problem with this was that this weekend was, no kidding, probably the first cloudy weekend in two months here in Tallahassee. So, the view wasn’t as great as we would have liked…but you take what you can get, right?

When we got back from sightseeing, Dave was home and we decided to go play disc golf at Tom Brown Park. Unfortunately, the clouds decided to open up when we were on maybe the third hole. Impervious, the five of us (Potter was observing the game) decided to keep on with it and had a blast playing the course in the quite heavy rain. We went home, had dinner, and spent the evening playing Settlers of Catan, a board game Ben and Beth has already gotten us addicted to (we ordered it for ourselves after they left on Sunday:)). Moral of the evening: Beth kicks butt at Settlers.

Saturday came with the threat of Tropical Storm Barry and dashed our plans to go to St. George Island (2-4 storm surge…no thank you!). So, instead, Dave and Ben played more disc golf in the (much lighter) rain, Beth and I went shopping, and we all played more Settlers. Then the four of us went to the Tallahassee RockGym (creative name, huh?) where we spent who knows how long rock climbing. It was a cool little gym in the middle of Railroad Square, Tallahassee’s local art scene, a cool place I will explore more soon and wish I had spent more time at before now. After scaling countless walls and getting one nasty bruise on my arm, we headed home, a little exhausted but in good spirits, to get ready for dinner.

We had promised Ben and Beth excellent seafood at St. George, so instead we took them to Harry’s, the local great seafood joint. It was SO yummy. We all (even Dave!) enjoyed Gator tail for our appetizer and then Beth and thoroughly enjoyed our seafood (neither of our husbands much care for seafood, so we don’t get to eat it very often!). It was a very good time with great conversation and a lesson in eavesdropping;)

On Sunday we went to Element 3, an emergent church here in BG. It was a good service, but I think Ben and Beth were a bit disappointed. Dave and I may go back to see if it grows on us, but we’ll see. After that our friends headed back to BG and we went home to take a much-needed nap! This was definitely the most jam-packed weekend we had in Tallahassee, but it was much needed. It was so good to be with friends who we’re just automatically comfortable with and to just be able to goof off. We’re so grateful that we have amazing friends like Ben and Beth who will drive all the way down here to hang out with us and remind us how blessed we are. We can’t wait to see them again!