The Events of Sunday, November 14, 2010

            We joined Oma Janssen to worship at her church, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church. The parking lot had plenty of space for the RV, and parking there gave folks easy conversation-starters: “Is that your rig out back? Where are you all from? How did you find out about St. Alban’s?” We enjoy sharing our story, especially to such eager listeners as we found here.

            Inside we found a lovely dark red wood interior and a dozen folks in cream-colored robes, preparing for the service. The agenda today was longer than usual; to accommodate the baptism of a toddler named Brooke. We also observed a ceremony celebrating “acolytes” who had committed to complete a course of some type leading to confirmation or membership or in some cases, baptism. At one point, there were more people on stage than in the audience. I saw in the bulletin that there were twenty people involved in the service—this in a congregation of about 35. I wonder what it would be like if our home church could get more than half the people involved. After the service we enjoyed a meet-and-greet-and-eat reception upstairs. The food was so abundant that most of us had no need for lunch, so we enjoyed a period of resting, reading and relaxing.

            I pause here for some historical background. The Columbine Massacre occurred eleven years ago. Gretchen and her fellow counselors at the Creative Living Counseling Center observed that for several weeks after that incident the media explored every angle of this terrible tragedy. The counselors pondered how they might shift the mood, and their brainstorming led them to create the “Humanity Award” to recognize youth who are making a positive difference in their world. Gretchen has organized the awards ceremony for the last several years, and serves this year as the MC. In addition, she has several other self-assigned duties: publicist, donation-collector, sign-poster, vegetable-slicer, etc. So we did whatever we could to help Oma Janssen prepare for the “11th Annual Humanity Awards” ceremony. The kids had a great attitude about it all, declaring, “This is fun!” We sliced veggies, posted signs, organized programs, transported boxes, set up tables, arranged the food tables, and served as greeters and ushers. The ceremony this year honored twelve local youths. The program also featured musical performances by talented vocalists, pianists, and violinists. At the reception afterwards, we again sated our appetites on delicious finger foods, so that we had no need for dinner.

            We came home and changed clothes. Then Oma Janssen summoned us to join her online to wish her grandson Isaac a happy fifth birthday on Skype. Our little window into Isaac’s home showed three rambunctious preschoolers and two good-humored parents. We sang him Happy Birthday, then their kids kept going with just the first line: “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…” Caitlin wisely suggested that we finish the song for them and then applaud loudly. This seemed to work for a minute, then the song sprang up again. Ah, kids. As we learned in Medora, ND, “We can’t live with them, and they won’t let you kill them.” (Just kidding!)