My good friend Tim Buechsel is getting married tomorrow. I'm in the wedding (always a groomsman, never a groom,) so I've been pretty busy with that over the past 24 hours.
Last night: Bachelor Party. Beer. Cigars. Midnight bedtime which makes Craig a cranky morning person.
This morning: My day off, but went to work for a few hours anyway.
Afternoon and evening: Rehearsal. Rehearsal Dinner at Gratzianos. I may come across as a total girl here, but I love weddings. I love how two worlds are brought together. Or, in Tim and Isabel's case, many worlds. At the rehearsal dinner were native Germans, Koreans, Bulgarians, Bolivians, Californians, Chicagoans, and one Texan (me.)
After the rehearsal dinner I met up with some UBC friends for a beer at Crickets. Wonderful times.
This is me being commited to finish writing about my trip by writing a little something every day...
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Somewhere along the way on the first day Fortenberry drove us to see his new church. We drove around the backroads (which, in Merryville are just "roads," and got to the clearing with the church. As we turned into the driveway my response, under my breath, was "Wow." A small country church in the clearing. Luckily Fortenberry didn't here me, because the church I "wowed" wasn't the new church, but the old one. I have a thing for old churches. Much more than for new ones. Not a big fan of the big aluminum structures thrown up out of scratch. Which was what the new church was, we just had to drive around the corner to see it.
But I'll give this aluminum structure credit where it is due-- the church is nice. The coolest thing about it is this: The nursery is attached to the sanctuary and a big window is cut into the wall dividing the two, so the nursery workers can see out into the sanctuary and the congregation (at least those who turn around) can see into the nursery. I thought that was one of the most amazing structural things I've ever seen a church do.
I know why they did it because Fortenberry told me: The nursery workers didn't want to miss church, so they hooked up sound and cut a window out.
But the reason I liked it was much less utilitarian than that. In fact, the reason I like it is because it is NOT functional. It is distracting. But I like that. I think it would be amazing to have the nursery on the SIDE of the sanctuary with a big viewing glass. Let the congregation see that children are the greatest part of a church-- not a distraction. Let the pastor see that the church is not about him. Let the children see this amazing, clunky, inefficient but altogether lovely thing adults do called "worship."
That's all I've got... Next post, day two.
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