Things I love about my church

There are a lot of things. I know because I miss them so much while we're all hiding in our homes. Here's a list of some of them:

1. They like each other. I can tell. They even stand around and talk to each other when we don't have donuts.
2. We usually have donuts though.
3. They show up for each other. There are too many examples for me to think of the right one. 
4. And now they're showing up for each other remotely. I've made a few phone calls to people and everyone I've talked to has already called other people to check in on them. One sweet man was calling people and sharing his favorite bible verse with people, because it had been helpful to him in these uncertain times. People who aren't techy have been doing their best to figure it out anyway so they can see their people. 
5. They're good at cheering each other on online. They were good at it already, but it feels extra valuable right now.
6. They love kids and let kids be kids. One of my first weeks at Mount Calvary my then 2- year old ran up to the altar and I held him the rest of the service while he wiggled in my arm and tried to grab the microphone, and someone thanked me afterward for being a mom and a pastor at the same time. 
7. They don't try to do all the things. They do things with intention and consideration, and find ways to include people in the things they care about. 
8. They take initiative and are willing to lead and offer their time and their gifts. I’ve yet to have someone offer up an idea to me without being willing to lead it or help make it happen. It’s really beautiful to me to see people try out things they care about.
9. My coworkers. We've sent each other about a million text messages this week and only like half of them were from me. 
10. We don't have a bunch of old donated floral couches.
11. They care about the surrounding community. They started the food shelf in town, which has now become The Open Door, and TOD feeds 6000 people a month all over Dakota County.
12. My colleague has become a good friend to me. I’m not sure if that’s rare, but it seems like it might be rare.
13. They're really generous. This summer we had a goal of raising $4000 for The Open Door, and in a month they raised $6000. Also, people keep coming to me telling me they'd like to anonymously pay for students' summer trips if they could use some help.
14. Several people started a young adult group when they were in college and they've just kept meeting because they love each other and are mostly in their mid-30s now. 
15. People volunteered to chaperone the HS youth gathering that's happening in 2021… last summer.
16. We did a storytelling & music event that was beautiful to me. People were brave and shared stories that told more about who they are, or offered music that spoke to them. 
17. At that storytelling event, one of the speakers told a story about a more fundy Christian leader telling him some pretty terrible things about LGBTQ folks and he said, “I want to raise my daughter in this church, because you will NEVER tell her something like that.” And they won’t.
18. They’re really adaptable about worship times. I’ve never known a congregation that’s changed worship times so many times and are mostly fine with it.
19. A group of volunteers assembled over the summer with so much excitement about Sunday school and reaching out to kids and families, that they organized this whole, beautiful thing for Sunday mornings with many moving parts and it came together the perfectly imperfect kind of way that seems extra holy. Also, some of the leaders wrote the whole curriculum for the year. And volunteered to lead based on their gifts. I cry just about every time I think about it.
20. Our confirmation students know the general story of the Old Testament and I feel proud that helped with that.
21. We have some seriously amazing singers and musicians.
22. I feel like I can be me here. 
23. They are really kind, fun, funny, thoughtful, lovely people. And I really like them.

This got long. I have so many more though.