The Princess and the Church

Last Sunday we had a marathon-ministry day. I attended one hour of Bible Study, Lutheran Worship and Methodist worship while the Princess attended one hour of Lutheran Sunday school, Methodist Sunday school and Methodist worship. Our Methodist musician was in the hospital, so on a moment's notice I became preside-preacher-musician for our communion-All Saints Sunday. That's a lot of church lingo, and church business and we were tired by noon! But the day wore on and we also did a service at a nursing home and attended youth group. Somewhere in the middle of all this I HAD to squeeze in some grocery shopping. About half way through the trip the Princess was getting antsy and crabby (to be honest, so was I) so she said, “I wanna call the Chaplain!”

You don't have to tell me twice, we dialed his number and she chatted away while I tried to power-shop and get us out of there pronto. The funny thing is as she tried to be heard over the noise of the store the Princess was chatting away AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS! She was going on and on about Lutheran Sunday school, Methodist church, lighting candles, All Saints Day, inviting others to Sunday School and the children's game Cootie (no, that doesn't have anything to do with church). Our fellow shoppers and the lady at the check out got an ear full about all this churchy lingo and business...and I realized how much this Princess is taking in. She really is getting a full dose of “church” the good, the bad and the gospel.

The funny thing is, five days a week she is at the Catholic school for kindergarten! So, we're crossing ourselves before prayer and she is tolerating (I say that because it really is hard for her) Monday mass (which I play for).

I figure I'm either preparing her for a life of protestant ministry, OR a real serious rebellion during her teen-age years. Either way, for now, I love that she sees the church for what it is – a glorious, holy, messy, diverse place. The senior citizens, the wiggling children, the gracious women, the old and confused, the sick and dying, the sinner and saint all gathering around the table to receive Jesus.