more about boogers, GOD and sticky hands

in conversing more about the church topic with others, an older, wiser friend stated the whole thing about going through seasons. it's kind of the same thing my friend kelli commented. that the church thing is a living, breathing thing. always changing, never the same. in truth, church to me would really be some type of co-housing situation. i know there are various community things going on which are great, but why try to "have church" on top of it? why can't daily life...living together, working together, eating together...be church? why does there have to be set aside times where children have to be segregated and THAT be called church? i started thinking about the origins of segregated worship services. surely in the early new testament church it was more about living together....which probably included children running amuck. my thoughts moved to myself as a child. i hated JR. church. i so wanted to be in the big service sitting with my mom. i remember going to my grandma's church. it was small and we divided up for sunday school but then came back together for the service. i loved sitting in the pew by my grandma digging through her purse, chewing all the gum, eating all the candy while she fanned me (there was no air conditioning) with the JESUS fan as i stared at the stained glass sweaty and in amazement at how quiet i really could be. i felt connected. connected to something bigger. i may not have understood what it all meant, but i felt loved and a part of the whole. is there something missing when we ship our kids off to be entertained. do we have so little faith in them as people? we assume they will distract our worship when, in fact they could teach us so much more than we could dream. so, when DID having a separate thing for kids begin? did someone somewhere think kids were bored in the big worship? is it really about not being distracted? does anyone REALLY know? one of my friends with 6 kids is catholic. the mass they choose to go to is all in latin. their children sit with them through the service and have even begun to understand. there is something cool and ancient about this to me. i also love that at the house of prayer, kids move in and out. people move in and out. worship goes on. prayer goes on. you can sense the power of GOD there. you can feel it. kids dance. big people pray. i'm rambling....it's late and my thoughts are jumbled.

oh....cora was just up and i got a little angry with her...i mean it IS 11pm. i spoke sharply to her and immediately felt bad about it. i told her i was really sorry for being angry and that i should not have talked to her that way. she said, "it's okay mom, it's always okay. anytime you get angry at me, i'll always forgive you" from the mouths of babes, people, from the mouths of babes.