Don't remove them

I was distracted by the most awesomeness of distractions this morning during the church service.   There was a young boy, seven to be exact, sitting behind me talking to his mother about what was happening in the service.   She was quietly answering him.   Though distracted herself, it isn't really a distraction.   The children belong in the service.   They are listening and paying attention.     They are catechized in word and sacrament through experience.       Their little lives are immersed in worship and they DO receive God's good gifts in the service.   Why remove them from worship?  

I just started teaching an awesome group of preteens last week and these kids are so very well catechized.   I have a deep love for young people and seeing them grow and mature and their eyes light up with recognition of what they are learning.   I do know I probably ask too many questions but they actually can figure out most of them.   They do understand Christ's body and blood given for them and it isn't too deep for them to talk about and think about.   They want to know.   The answers they give are obviously the product of not only great parents but participation in the service.  

I asked these same kids if they had any specific questions they had been wondering about and a ten year old young lady expressed a curiosity and desire to better understand the Trinity and how that is possible.   She rocks.   I advised her to ask her Pastor if he wanted to come over for tea or ice cream and that his favorite thing to do was to answer questions.   At the very least, the hallways and byways at church or Catechesis class would a good place to ask the questions answering Pastor.  

So don't start or maintain a nursery.   The children are not disturbing anyone including the parents as it is the parents vocation or place in life to parent them now.   When all the wiggles are exhausted at age eight or nine or maybe even as young as five, then the parent can chill more in the pew and take it isn.    Until then, these beautiful little people are gifts to rejoice in and stare at and love and talk to and soak up while we have the opportunity.   I am just totally taken aback by how amazing God's creation and gift of children are to us.   Different ages and different blessings.   A person of any age is amazing really.   See what their eyes are looking at and taking in when they are unawares.  

Last thought or observation.   I don't really pay much attention to other people's children during Holy Communion, but I do see my own little people paying such serious attention, even during their youngest days, during the distribution.   Evan's eyes took it all in this morning.   He is two.  The Pastor giving the bread to people and then Evan receiving the blessing when it was his turn.   He becomes perfectly still lately and listening.   Children do listen.   They are not incapable of understanding.   Don't take and hide the children  away from the service in fear of disturbing people.   Disturb the people!   Children of God of all ages were of utmost importance to our Lord Jesus.   He loves us all and not just those who can sit still during the sermon.   If I am distracted from the sermon myself, what better way to be distracted but through staring into their little faces.   Don't remove them.   

With my eyes closed

I hear something which is a much different experience than with them open.   I have come to love closing my eyes during most of the liturgical settings at church.   My very favorite time to do so is during the Sanctus.   If I open my ears during this time, I hear a foretaste of things to come.   These same people I sing with on Sunday, will sing with me in eternity.   The same people who have gone before me and are with Christ, who sang with me earlier in my life, will sing with me in eternity and ARE singing with me.   Opening my ears to hear as we open our lips and our mouth declare His praise.   THESE ARE my favorite few minutes of the week.  

Commercial break

I am contemplating contacting the networks about making a new commercial.   It will feature me or some other better looking mom, doing wondrous, ponderous things such as.....du, du, du.......changing a diaper or.....putting the clothes in the drier.    It will be colorful and awesome with cutely decorated rooms and a beautiful garden which the awesome mom is weeding (or not) and then......at the end of the commercial break it will say......can you guess???????

My name is Martha Ingebretson and..... I'm.......a...... Lutheran.   This will stop all the prejudice against Lutherans I am sure.   All that crossing of themselves and such and living life.   We need to set the record straight.    I know that most people contemplate the weird behavior of Lutherans.  Yes.   You know they do. 

Seminary Clothing Bank

I went a few years back with a friend to the Sem clothing bank and.....um.....yeah.....the childrens clothing  were nice and picked over and looked pretty sad.   In the process of thinning things out in Hornerdom, I always think of that visit and hope not to send yuck their way.   If it is my clothes, I carefully consider if I seriously will ever be that size again, in that season and picture an appreciative Sem wife with something decent to wear.   There are dresses which served during pregnancies when not too far along which went that way.   Childrens clothes.  Hmmm......I cut the reserves in half and hope someone was able to use something.  No.....it was not my sleeper on the Concordian Sister baby.   We get new clothes seemingly with every new baby one way or another and no baby could ever wear that many.   Now we are in the potential stage of downsizing in the clothing etc department so here is  hoping the bank can use more.   If it is yuck, it does not need to dry rot at the Sem.   I did think that some day it would be nice to go to garage sales and pick up decent church clothes etc to keep things fresh there.   I am grateful for how richly we have been supplied with what is needed and garage sales have rocked in this way too.   I honestly can not imagine being at the Sem and strapped for cash and managing.   Hopefully some Sem wife is not crying anymore on Sunday morning wishing for something decent to wear.  It wasn't me which provided it but God's gracious provision for this sinful group of Horners.   I just have always wanted my best cast offs to go to the Sem as I know what a wimp I am and it is pretty obvious why God found it best for me to marry an engineer.......I am just a wimp.    

Love in

I have all my kids ten and under who LOVE to have love ins with mom.    Last night at church you would think I was leaving on a long extended journey for all the hugging and loving that went on in the pew.   I hate to 'discipline' them for all the hugs as I look at my thirteen year old and that sort of loving is no longer his thing and I know it will pass.    I suppose we have to have a chat about the extent of hugging and squeezing which goes on during sermons etc.   Benjamin thinks I am sleeping during the sermon when I close my eyes to listen.    I tried to explain that I close my eyes to shut out the distractions.  Hmmm.......hard to close your eyes if when you open them for a second there is a cute eight year old face looking up into yours.   The same goes on at home with all the short people vying for space on either side of me.    Perhaps I should get one of those deli machines with little numbers they can pull out.    This is not a huge problem till they begin screaming at each other about who is sitting where. 


Time to rip myself away from the cute little people and get something done for the today.   Bye kids!   Hope you survive without my warm self beside you clicking away on the keyboard.

Bumpier

I will not elaborate but I must say this whole year has been a test in endurance. Wow. Every time I thought the year couldn't get any more challenging, we just crank it up a notch. The up side is I do believe all this weirdness has done nothing but make us stronger. NEVER has Christ's love and forgiveness for this family of poor miserable sinners been as clear as it has now. I guess I don't even want to say or pray for things to get calmer as either I am getting used to this or reveling in the Lord is just a better place to be. I find myself just looking forward to resting at church when opportunity presents itself and if anyone had a lot of stuff to learn it was me. There is a Divine Service tomorrow evening and I can not wait. I also can not wait to get a full nights sleep. I can not remember the last time I slept even for six hours uninterrupted. This last month has been filled with illness and many a long talk on the phone for various reasons. Seeing the clock read two or three in the morning just doesn't seem to be that shocking as it is the new normal. Maybe.....this evening will be the night? I said that yesterday and.......it wasn't. Don't get your hopes up! You might be disappointed. Hope in the Lord and you will never be disappointed. Thankful that is easy to say.

The death of the Conservative Lutheran Family

I'm blogging on all my duh moments of the summer. This duh moment was brought to my attention sort of gradually since I actually associate with families who do NOT homeschool their children! Horrors! I am not sure I can explain this duh moment clearly but here goes.

I was chatting with a family at a recent get together about what we love about our times together as a family. They do not homeschool their kids and they *only* have five kids. We shared a chuckle over how they have had some raised eyebrows over their number of children being too small (remember.....this is a private matter for THAT family and no one else should be evaluating their family size or thinking too hard about it). We were able to laugh together over the assumptions that are made about *conservative Lutheran families*. What makes a family conservative and Lutheran....?????

Assumptions made: Conservative Lutheran Families are made up of families who have bazillions of children.

Problem with assumption and where hurtful comments are made: What if the couple truly desires many children but are not able to have them??? Their quiver is still full. They are still a family. God is the giver and taker of life. They may have laughed until they cried when they actually conceived and bore a child or.....not.

Next assumption: Conservative Lutheran Families all nurse their children forever and use the latest earthy products and shop at Goodwill. Um.....same sort of answer and same sort of offense given if eyebrows are raised at child with bottle in his hand.

Next.....Conservative Lutheran Families all homeschool their children......not so. Same answer and same offense at raised eyebrows....

Only Conservative Lutheran families who homeschool talk to their children about books, the merits of purity, catechesis, the evils of getting sucked in by video games, dating or courtship (hate that word), and.... price compare beer prices in the grocery store and....????call that math or school???? or is that just what all parents do with their kids while out and about, walking along the way etc. (I seriously want to raise a campaign against this sort of homeschooling parental brag).

All conservative Lutheran Families are not all Pastors families......nope.....crazy Lutheran Engineer family here.....

It is all good but these assumptions are brought to my attention by other families who are not all of those things and were a bit taken aback and felt sort of out of the loop when people expressed surprise at their not fulfilling expectations. Love everyone y'all and don't be frightened. Non-homeschooling, non-pastor's families, non-huge families....are all still people Christ calls us to love and serve. Yes, don't be scared. Stop and look at them contemplatively and your mere curiosity of their lives will draw you together. I do think our Conservative Lutheran Family pride can really drive a wedge between us and the rest of the world.

I'll be done with these rants soon....just the summer summary of what I have observed in the highways and byways....and why I call it the death of the Conservative Lutheran Family is that we can very easily repel people with our pride in our doing things *right*. I personally (so proud of myself - round and round we go!) try to help my kids be aware of different sorts and varieties of people and realize that it is that families prerogative to do things the way they chose to and we are not called to worry or judge them. It is round and round as we all do the pride thing at one point or another or all the time, but homeschoolers and Conservative Lutheran Families DO make a lot of assumptions about these topics.

No doubt this will be offensive to someone but know that it is something I have chuckled with others about and also been sad about. Life on this side of heaven....this is just part of it.