Who's listening in?

BK and I typically take Sundays pretty easy. All of his work weeks are busy and the days are long, so we try to relax on the weekends. Occasionally Sunday will be a travel day for us when we're heading back from whatever destination we last visited.

The one thing that we almost always do on Sundays is listen to church. As a kid growing up at University Christian Church, I used to wonder who in the world would want to listen to church on the radio. Ick…how much more boring could you get?

I'm sure I probably partially thought this because I loved seeing all of my friends at church, attending Sunday school with them, sitting together in church, then all heading out for lunch afterward. Strangely enough, I have no recollection of where my parents sat during the service because I'm not sure I ever sat with them.

The other part of it is probably me picturing having to listen to some sort of televangelist on the radio or something. That is not at all what would have come across the airwaves, but after many years of hearing and seeing my grandmother watch whoever was on the religious channel on TV, I knew I wanted no part of that. To me that said, hell and damnation, and give us all of your money. Like I said, not what would have come through on KTCU, but still.

Now, on the other hand, things have completely changed for me (as should be expected being a grown up and all). Every Sunday at 6pm Basel time BK and I tune in online. They have the bulletin posted online as well so that we know what's going on in the service. Having been a member there the majority of my life, I typically know who the Elders are, recognize whose kid is acolyting and despite my years away from the church could probably recite to you exactly what order the service will go.

Of course I enjoy listening in to Larry preach, as well as hearing about news throughout the church, including who has recently gotten married, had a baby or lost a loved one- especially right now when lots of people that I grew up with at church are returning to the church, getting married and having kids.

More than anything though, I think that I love that it makes me feel connected to UCC and Fort Worth for that hour. I love that I know that my parents and sisters are sitting on the lectern side, about a third of the way back, listening to exactly what I'm hearing in that moment. And that just a couple hours earlier my mom sat on the pulpit side a little closer up and experienced the same service. It makes the distance between us not seem so far and is something we can do together even though BK and I are an ocean away from them.

So who's listening in? There's obviously a reason they've been doing it all these years, as I'm sure people near and far return home to UCC for that hour each week and listen in. I'm just thankful that it's something we can do while we're in Basel to make us feel not quite so far away from home.