Church in the Cafeteria

I remember the first time I went into a school cafeteria. I was a seven year old, a bright-eyed first grader wearing a new denim jumper with a red apple appliquéd on the front made lovingly by my mother for the first day of first grade. I don’t remember what I ate but I do remember clutching two quarters tightly so as not to lose them and I remember the carton of cold milk.

I would enter a school cafeteria many more times in my life both as a student and as a middle school teacher. The times run together. The faces of students blur. The smell of tater tots, runny gravy, mediocre pizza and sweaty adolescents filled the large room.

This morning,  our church family was forced by lack of air-conditioning in the auditorium to worship in a school cafeteria. The cafeteria was transformed into a sanctuary. The room was filled with God’s children raising voices in song, prayer, and the Word of God. There were no altars, no stained glass windows, no organ music.

Our closing hymn stated “There is a place of quiet rest, a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God.” This morning that place was a middle school cafeteria.

Comments

[Katie]

Our pastor is fond of saying that church is not a building, but the group of people.

He phrases it much better than I have. ;o)