It's half past eight in the morning. I just got back from my walk. My daughter is still sleeping and her friend staying for a sleepover is in a deep sleep. She did not move even after the dogs showered her with kisses.
It is usually a struggle getting my children to get up for the church. For a long time, I wondered what is the key?
I decided not to wake the girls. There is another mass in the morning we can go to—the eleven o'clock mass.
I have enough time to shower and then sit in front of the computer to edit my Sunday post. I cook sunny side up eggs while my daughter prepares the toasts. She got up in a good mood this morning. She surprised me by spreading jelly on all the toasts.
“Honey, you don't have to do that. We can put jelly on our own toasts.”
“Oh , OK.”
Well, it is too late. All the toasts are covered with raspberry jelly, some one-inch thick of it. Haha. They are someone soggy by the time I took a bite.
I made coffee for everyone--frappuccino for the girls and hot coffee for me and Paul.
“You are going to church with us, Paul.”
“Huh?”
 Transit |
| The Transit was written by the pastor of this church, Shawn Johnson. In church, this may be offered for free to new followers of Christianity. |
We got there in five minutes of driving. The parking is almost full. There are several volunteers guiding the traffic, signaling drivers where to park.
A sign in front reads:
If this is the first time in our church, welcome, and please flicker your headlights.
Wow, they have the first-timers park in a designated parking area closer to the church. I already feel welcomed even before we go inside the church.
The entrance has people in line for coffee for the church goers. People are lined up like the customers in Starbucks. I did not check it out, but I am sure they don't have a fancy menu like Starbucks.
I don't think it's free. I think they offer coffee as a regular fund-raising activity to benefit the church. That's a smart idea. We just had coffee so we skipped this.
On the right close by is the check in for families with children up to 6th grade. They are divided into three age groups, I believe.
We just asked for the main area. We are informed, we must be looking for the auditorium. Oh, OK. So that's the place of worship called. Inside we are guided to sit in a few available seats they still have. The place is about full with people mostly in their 20's to 40's. There were no benches or kneeling places but cushioned chairs put together.
There are three huge screens, a little smaller than in the movie theater, but there are three of them so no matter how tall the person is in front of you, you can still see one or two of the identical screens.
We watch this short video of cancer survivors. The service is followed by a welcoming speech live. After that is a video of a sermon that is showed in all other branches of the church—Lakewood, Littleton, Arvada, and Evergreen. We all get and watch the same sermon.
Chad, the young man who gave the sermon is probably in his thirties. He is eloquent and interesting. He made his points clear and refers to the verses of the bible often. He gave real life examples of real people that I am able to relate to—like raising children in modern times. He throws some jokes every now and then that makes me laugh.
The service ends with two long songs, both live, with young singers and their electric guitars. There is spotlights and special smoke effects. The screen behind them is the video of them performing with lyrics on the screen like karaoke so we can follow if we want.
There are no song books or mass booklets. Everything to be read is on the screens. I dreamed about this being done in the catholic church before. I thought of the songs and readings to be on the screen instead of on the booklets.
I also dreamed about listening to a choir in church like it's performed in the movie Sister Act. While the performers in Red Rocks did not sing like Whoopie and the nuns in the movie, they captivated my attention the whole time with their vocal and guitar performance.
My goodness, I have just seen a Christian rock concert with the main points of the sermon repeated in the chorus over and over. “God loves us all, sinners, or not.” Well, that covers everyone, doesn't it?
"We should all come to him. He listens to us. He will save us. He loves us."
This is like a dream come true. All that I hoped for that I see and hear in a church came true, only it is not a catholic but a non-denominational Christian church.
A special mention is given to the prisoners in Denver jail, as well us the people who are affected by bombers in Europe.
We stopped by the Welcome center as instructed to newcomers The lady handed us a bag with more information about the church. She invited my daughter and her friend to their high school group.
She also gave my daughter an invite to a pool party. The girls smiled.
“I like this church,” my daughter said.
“Yeah, I like it even better than the one last week,” her friend said in agreement.
Well, we went to my good old Catholic church last week, the church whose priest I do not understand. He has a very thick foreign accent.
In contrary, Paul did not really like this new church as much as we, females, do.
“I did not feel the solemness that I get from the Catholic church. The place here is so modern and loud, I feel like we just went to a concert.”
***
This place is not perfect but the fact that my daughter likes it is a reason enough we will go back to this place. The modern feel may be the key.
Have a sunny, yellow, happy Monday.
What did you do last Sunday?
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a good story.
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