Remembrance of Days Past
Today, I went with my sister and her 2 kids to the Lordship Community Church Fair. Just walking into the basement of that church brings back so many memories. While I was brought up Catholic and belonged to Our Lady of Peace 2 blocks away, we always went to the "Protestant" church fairs, and sometimes to services there (if we slept over a friend's house who belonged). We questioned the wine served because it was grape juice, and I guess I'm going to hell because on Communion Sunday, I drank it.
My Mom encouraged us to participate in other denominational services because she belonged to the "Protestant youth group because the Catholic one was horrible". They had more fun being kids as Protestants - played games, went on trips, met cute boys. She always said all the Catholic kids did was clean the church. So I joined the youth group at the LCC, and also was part of the OLOP group for a while. We met in the basement of the LCC, watched movies, played games, talked about life, with a guy who later became a Stratford High Teacher, Gary Schmidlin. We thought he was cool because he had big hair. Hey, it was the 70's!
Every year, Mom sent us off to the fair. Sometimes she came too, but mostly we got sent to get some dessert from the baked good table (fudge was always a good bet), and got cash for a hot dog and soda for lunch. If we had any money of our own, well that worked too. We peeked into the little kids' classrooms. They looked like a lot more fun than "religit school". We had to walk to OLOP every Monday after school for that, from first grade on. The Protestant kids could play downstairs while their parents listened to the minister upstairs! NO FAIR!
Mrs. W. always sold jewelry and other funky stuff. Mrs. B. brought a tableful of African violets in every color to sell, along with a few spider plants and some other home grown funky houseplants. I loved that table. Mrs. F. had a table for the poor children from around the world - UNICEF, probably. Then there was Santa. Sometimes we had to take our Gramma, who would be there for the night - she wanted to go look at the crocheted items to say she could make them better. And she would buy us cupcakes, too.
Mom usually talked to Mrs. B. about the violets, which she loved, and pretended to look at Mrs. W.'s jewelry to be polite. It was a fun time if she came with us, or met us there, because she always had a little bit more money, and knew everyone. We could hear her laugh no matter where she was in the lower level, and knew we better be on our toes - no running around.
In later years, it was a trip Mom and I made with my kids. Santa was the best one around. 1 year there was a Black Santa - you could have knocked me over! After all, even in the 80's and 90's, this was a pretty white congregation. He was the best - the kids loved him, and I still have pictures from that day. Mom loved to have fun, so she would make faces at the kids when they sat on Santa's lap.
We made that trip with Mom for many years, even when she wasn't really sure where we were. She remembered it wasn't a Catholic Church, but that was about it. She always enjoyed her dog with sauerkraut, and stuck her nose up at the chili (never a fan of those kind of beans).
Going there today reminded me of some things I grew up knowing. I knew that no one had a better or worse religion than we did. Religion was something you believed in and attended a building to reinforce that belief. You did what was right because of the way you were taught, and religion was an addition to that teaching by your parents. It was perfectly acceptable to worship at another building with other people who didn't believe the exact same thing as you as long as you respected their beliefs. It was appropriate to adapt to their customs when in their "house".
I also grew up knowing that it was wrong to denigrate someone else's beliefs, whether religious or not, unless those beliefs denigrated others. Even then, you didn't make fun of those people, nor were you afraid of them. You just were polite, in a "bless their hearts" kind of way. We taught our kids these same values and attitudes. It makes me sad today to know that we seem to be among the few, or perhaps we are just among the quiet. I hope there are many out there who believe as we do, who grew up knowing that no religion is inherently bad, that denigrating others because of religion is bad. There are few who believe killing because of religion is a good thing, and they come from all religions these days. They seem to get all the press, don't they?
My Mom encouraged us to participate in other denominational services because she belonged to the "Protestant youth group because the Catholic one was horrible". They had more fun being kids as Protestants - played games, went on trips, met cute boys. She always said all the Catholic kids did was clean the church. So I joined the youth group at the LCC, and also was part of the OLOP group for a while. We met in the basement of the LCC, watched movies, played games, talked about life, with a guy who later became a Stratford High Teacher, Gary Schmidlin. We thought he was cool because he had big hair. Hey, it was the 70's!
Every year, Mom sent us off to the fair. Sometimes she came too, but mostly we got sent to get some dessert from the baked good table (fudge was always a good bet), and got cash for a hot dog and soda for lunch. If we had any money of our own, well that worked too. We peeked into the little kids' classrooms. They looked like a lot more fun than "religit school". We had to walk to OLOP every Monday after school for that, from first grade on. The Protestant kids could play downstairs while their parents listened to the minister upstairs! NO FAIR!
Mrs. W. always sold jewelry and other funky stuff. Mrs. B. brought a tableful of African violets in every color to sell, along with a few spider plants and some other home grown funky houseplants. I loved that table. Mrs. F. had a table for the poor children from around the world - UNICEF, probably. Then there was Santa. Sometimes we had to take our Gramma, who would be there for the night - she wanted to go look at the crocheted items to say she could make them better. And she would buy us cupcakes, too.
Mom usually talked to Mrs. B. about the violets, which she loved, and pretended to look at Mrs. W.'s jewelry to be polite. It was a fun time if she came with us, or met us there, because she always had a little bit more money, and knew everyone. We could hear her laugh no matter where she was in the lower level, and knew we better be on our toes - no running around.
In later years, it was a trip Mom and I made with my kids. Santa was the best one around. 1 year there was a Black Santa - you could have knocked me over! After all, even in the 80's and 90's, this was a pretty white congregation. He was the best - the kids loved him, and I still have pictures from that day. Mom loved to have fun, so she would make faces at the kids when they sat on Santa's lap.
We made that trip with Mom for many years, even when she wasn't really sure where we were. She remembered it wasn't a Catholic Church, but that was about it. She always enjoyed her dog with sauerkraut, and stuck her nose up at the chili (never a fan of those kind of beans).
Going there today reminded me of some things I grew up knowing. I knew that no one had a better or worse religion than we did. Religion was something you believed in and attended a building to reinforce that belief. You did what was right because of the way you were taught, and religion was an addition to that teaching by your parents. It was perfectly acceptable to worship at another building with other people who didn't believe the exact same thing as you as long as you respected their beliefs. It was appropriate to adapt to their customs when in their "house".
I also grew up knowing that it was wrong to denigrate someone else's beliefs, whether religious or not, unless those beliefs denigrated others. Even then, you didn't make fun of those people, nor were you afraid of them. You just were polite, in a "bless their hearts" kind of way. We taught our kids these same values and attitudes. It makes me sad today to know that we seem to be among the few, or perhaps we are just among the quiet. I hope there are many out there who believe as we do, who grew up knowing that no religion is inherently bad, that denigrating others because of religion is bad. There are few who believe killing because of religion is a good thing, and they come from all religions these days. They seem to get all the press, don't they?
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