My Church Life

I belong to St. George Episcopal Church, and I'm fairly active there. There are times when I don't darken the steps for a few weeks, but I don't miss any obligations there. I'm the Wedding Coordinator, the Flower Ministry coordinator, and a member of the Altar Guild (lead in my team). Most of these happened because no one else would step up.

I grew up Catholic in a small town Catholic church, going to the parochial school through 5th grade. Then I went to a private school through 10th grade. Then we transferred to the public school for the last 2 years. I'll have to tell you about that sometime ;O).

I continued going to church most Sundays after I moved away from home and when we first married. I didn't care for the church in my neighborhood. It was way too big and impersonal for me. I didn't believe the smiles were genuine, and I was uncomfortable there even though I was part of it for many years. So I stopped going. It really was a bad time to quit because my kids were late middle school and early high school. But their Catholic education was sorely lacking even though we went to church almost every Sunday. I realize now that I should have filled in the blanks myself, but I've always been busy trying to keep the bills paid (EXCUSE).

Anyway, after several churchless years, I met someone while working on a newsletter that I produce for the Friends of the San Antonio Library who talked to me over the course of time that we worked together. First she was singing hymns that they were learning in choir. Then I told her that I needed to get back to church, and she suggested I join St. George. I asked her what kind of church it was, and she said Episcopal. Of course, my response was "Oh, I'm Catholic." I couldn't think of going to a different denomination. She'd tell me stories about what was happening at her church, and the terms she used were the same as Catholic. Before I knew it, I was grabbing a friend of mine to check out this church one Sunday morning.

I immediately fell in love with St. George. It was small, with a gorgeous stained glass window above the altar. I even loved the smell of the church. I felt at home -- at peace there. My friend didn't care for it, and she never went back. But I did. I made friends there in no time. Everyone there is friendly, loving, and truly cares for everyone.

Shortly after I joined St. George, I went to the Ministry Fair they held in the gym and signed up to be a Greeter and to work one Saturday a month at the Bargain Boutique, their resale shop. Before I knew it, I was working every Saturday at the Bargain Boutique, and I was also on the Prayer team.

Being on the prayer team was very stressful for me. Growing up Catholic, I'm not good at spontaneous prayer (although I'm getting better), and the thought that my prayer partner wouldn't be there one Sunday and I'd be on my own was my undoing. So I dropped the prayer team, and evenutally, I fell off the list for Greeter. In December of 2007, I quit working at the Boutique.