Easter

I had a good Easter this year. I woke up to find that Kip had left me an Easter basket to find with candy, a stuffed animal and a cute card so that was really nice of him. It reminded me of when I was back home and the "Easter bunny" would hide easter baskets for all of us kids to find on Easter morning.

I went to Kip's church which is the United Methodist church on King Avenue for their Easter service. I had been to that church once before around Christmas and I told Kip I'd go back with him on Easter. The first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was. There were greeters at all the doors to welcome everyone and ushers to help you find a seat. The whole church smelled really good with the Easter flowers that everyone had bought. The opening hymn was "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" which is also a hymn that Mormons sing so it was good that I knew it and was able to sing along. They had an opening prayer and had the new babies be brought up by the parents for the congregation to see. There were two baptisms and it was interesting to see how they were done. They brought the kids up to the front where there was a basin of water and the pastor and assistant pastor(a woman) each baptized one child with a few drops of water. Then the pastors took the children around the room to introduce them to the congregation. The pastor gave a short talk on the resurrection and then there was a closing prayer.

I'll have to say I did like it especially the feeling of inclusiveness that exists in that church. There are a lot of gay people that go to the church and one in front of us had his arm around his partner and whispered periodically in his ear. It's nice to know that Kip and I wouldn't be judged there as we would be in the Mormon church. Also men and women have equal rights in the Methodist church as proven by the fact that women can be pastors as well as men. In church I always loked the songs the best and always "felt the Spirit" when I listened to Church music. Well the Methodist church has a lot of the same hymns as in the Mormon church with a lot more as well and I felt the same good feeling when I sang them there. They also had a band playing with the music which was nice to listen to. One thing I did feel a little uncomfortable about was when the collection plate came around but still when you think about it that's a lot better to have a voluntary collection plate than requiring everyone to pay 10% of their earnings.

I have to admit I think I could get used to going to a Methodist church and raising my child(ren) in that church because I think it would be a good way to teach them about God while at the same time teaching them to love and accept all kinds of people no matter their race, sexual orientation, etc.