Church

What do you do when you don’t change churches but the church changes on you? 

I have so many mixed feeling right now. I am searching for direction and understanding. I’ve cried and I’ve prayed.

My church that I have attended for 52+years voted this past weekend to change the name and drop the Baptist label. There are many non denominal churches out there. I see nothing wrong with it. I think it’s great that people can go to church where they are not labeled. But I also think its nice that there are still churches that are Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc.. I have always believed that as long as they worship God, they are good. But if I wanted to go to one of those churches I would. I have chosen all these years to stay a Baptist. It’s my style. It’s how I was brought up. 

Do I stay? Or do I go find a Baptist church to attend? That’s were I stand right now. 

I can’t say I didn’t see this coming as my church has changed through the past few years. It has not changed in a bad way, it has just gradually stepped away from the ole Southern Baptist style. I have hung in there all these years through the good and bad times. I have seen us struggle to find pastors and keep attendance. I have seen members pulled in and members kicked out. Right now, I think me and my mom and dad are the only original members left. 

There has been a lot of drama and politics, but I think you have that in all churches. There is no perfect church or person.

Everything is changing to please the world. I had the comfort knowing that my church that will stay the same. But now they too are changing to please world. They believe that changing the sign in the front to a new name will bring in new people. I don’t think so and I hope I’m wrong on that. It’s the people in the church that bring in new people. 

I’m not saying what my church did is right or wrong but I do think they should have sent out letters to other members that were not at church the week before to let them know there would be a vote on this change. A lot of member are shocked and confused right now. I think it was a big decision that should have been made by more than a few people. 

I will probably continue to attend until I make up my mind what I want to do. 

Am I wrong for thinking this way? Should I accept the change or move on? Thanks for the comments. I’m interested in your thoughts on this. 

Mothers Day #28

I have had 28 Mothers Days. My Mom has had 55 (before you do the math, I have an older brother).

Every year just seems to get sweeter and sweeter. I’m not sure if life gets better or the older I get the more sensitive I get. 

My daughter came to spend the weekend. I always look forward to that. She will come home again next weekend to celebrate my birthday. We got Mexican take out on Saturday night and then went for a walk in the neighborhood. On the way back from our walk, I stopped by an abandon house that was grown up with weeds. The yard was trimmed in knockout roses. I stole a few cuts to add to my table. I also had little Mothers Day pot holders for the moms in the family just for fun.

It was a good Sunday. We have been having drive through church services since the stay home order, but this Sunday we were back inside as usual. 

I am not sure if this was actually allowed in this phase of the pandemic but everyone kept their distance and plenty of hand sanitizer was available.

It was a good Sunday service as we celebrated the Moms.

Since we could not take mom out for Mothers Day, I decided to cook instead. I have been up since 7:00 this morning. I had 10 pounds of potatoes to peel and 38 chicken legs to skin for dinner (Chicken legs are about all we could find as the stores were low on meat). We also had macaroni and cheese and green beens. It was nice to see all of us together again and I think that made mom the most happy. 

My Mothers Day gift from my daughter was a gift certificate for a candle making class and a new shirt.

I love being a Mom and think I have the best daughter ever!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! 

Pizza Pasta

This past Sunday my church celebrated Home Coming. My church has been around 70 something years. I can’t remember how many they said it was.(hey, no head shaking, I did listen to the service). I have been going to my church for 50 years. I’m one of the few that still attends after all those years. Some have left and came back.

When I was younger my parents made sure we went three times a week. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesdays. I always liked going. Back then, we had a large youth group that would often gather outside the church and do fun group activities together. Now sadly, I only go to Sunday morning service.

Another thing us Baptist would do is eat. We always held a cover dish dinner (potluck) after church on special Sundays. Homecoming is one of those times. Though I am not a big fan of eating foods if I do not know who fixes them, I piled my plate anyway. I have never gotten sick from a church dinner. 

I needed a dish to make and share. I usually will do some kind of casserole but this time I decided on a Pizza Pasta. I guess you could call it a pizza casserole. 

This was the first time I made this dish and it was hit. It was one of the first dishes to disappear. However, I was able to snag a bite before it was gone. It was an easy dish to make. I was skeptical on how it would taste but it tasted just like, well, Pizza pasta. Kids will love it as it is not too spicy and easy eat.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished results before someone took a spoon to it. I guess the ladies in the kitchen preparing the table couldn’t wait for the service to end to do a taste test. 

The recipe can be found at Taste of Home.