A few of the kids have been asking us to join for church on Sunday evenings.
While we welcome them to our Saturday program and the Sunday afternoon kids program (and had fifteen came yesterday!), we’ve been hesitant to have kids join us at the evening service.
But it’s also hard to turn down church, when we really would love for them to come.
So yesterday, I checked with the pastor and his wife, explaining that a few of the older kids–over 10, namely–were wanting to come. Was it okay if we brought a few?
She replied, “Yes! They speak Burmese and they’ll understand! Let them come!”
(I felt there was an implied, And they’ll understand more than YOU! But it wasn’t spoken. Or at least not were I could understand it!)
So the one twelve-year-old girl who had been asking and asking and asking, I told her: yes, she could come. But it wasn’t to play–you can play at our house. This was for singing and listening. Capeesh?
Well, one thing led to another, and soon her grandmother was coming! And her three-year-old nephew. This is in addition to a family of 4 that has been joining weekly. We were pretty excited about this. Three adults, and their own children?! That’s a great adult-child ratio, and we’re always excited to see adults interested. In anything.
Then a few more things led to a few more, and a couple older kids asked if they could join, too. We agreed, on the same premise: not for play; singing & listening only.
By this point, I was nervous. I was excited, yes, but this was a lot of kids. We had two parents watching their own two kids, which I felt little responsibility for. We had one parent watching their two kids, which because of how much time they spend at our house, I did feel a little responsibility for. And then we had four without parents that I felt a whole lot of responsibility for.
We took up four rows of the church. And since there are only about 30 people there each week, we were a big percentage. We are never subtle, really, despite our best efforts.
This church, though–one of the things we love about them–they are so amazing at welcoming people. They learn names and say hellos; they remember the kids and welcome them in. They say hello from the front, give them a clap of welcome, and during prayer pray for our community.
Unfortunately, to most of the questions I was asked, I wasn’t sure. I’m still struggling enough to follow along without keeping five kids in the loop! (What are we doing now? Uh, I’m not sure; just one minute. What verse did he say? Uh, not sure. I missed that reference. What is he talking about? Uh, not sure. This verse, but…)
The kids stayed so quiet & listened so well. The lowest point was when the girl next to me was singing to herself during the sermon, which to her credit was in the category of “sing & listen” and is probably deemed a “quiet” activity in Burmese culture (but was still singing out loud). I didn’t actually stop her until she started clapping along with her song–again, in the middle of the sermon. I then emphasized that this was the listen portion of the evening.
I was amazed how quickly it went from Stephen & I sitting next to each other week after week, helping each other understand the sermon; to suddenly managing a host of kids sitting between us and knowing I’m giving them mom-eyes.
We rounded out the night with a meal after the service, which everyone loved! We filled our own table, because again–subtlety is our specialty! And I’m sure the kids ate their weight in rice. The three-year-old ate three times as much as I did.
