Feels like home.....

Yesterday we decided to visit the Vineyard church in Yarra Valley. Its about a 40 minute/40km drive from our home, so its a pretty long drive on a sunday to get to church there. But we decided to go since its a long weekend here. Take the chance to visit since I still have Monday to finsih off the chores/rest...etc.

When we got there, I immediaetly liked the place cause they had tables and chairs out in the front and around the auditorium. The ones towards the back were for parents and kids. Nice relaxing set up. Worship started and people began finding their place. I have missed worship if I am honest. The music was not great, but the heart was. Towards the end of the worship time I saw a picture of myself in my mind. I was all bandaged up with a lot of injuries and was on crutches. Have not had this kind of experience in a long long time. Did not think too much of it. Just saw it as a reminder of my state currently.

In typical Vineyard fashion we then broke for coffee. Had a chance to chat with one of the pastors there for a bit. Was ok. One thing struck us was that we were the only asians there that day. There was one asian lady who was married to an Aussie but apart from that, no other asians. I think this is due to the fact that there is not a huge asian community in that area and also possibly the church is too "laid back" for asians. Its a pretty much "come as you are" place, as the pastor described it later. In fact, as we were entering the church that morning, there were a few rough looking guys outside having a smoke before service. .....I think Jesus would have felt at home there. This was such a difference from a church we visited the week before.....it was full of Malaysians and Singaporeans and the pastors and elders were in suits and ties. In fact even during the baptism, the assistant pastor was in his shirt and tie...in the baptism pool! They had "40 days of purpose" all over the place and one of the Malaysian chinese elders spoke that day and he went round and round on the same point......was too much like back in Malaysia!

Ok, back to the Vineyard service. When the pastor began to speak, he said that he was continuing his series on the church....and especially targetting the "spirit (i.e. attitude towards and view of) of religion".....then it begun to make sense. I think God, in his love and mercy, was reminding me of how wounded I have been by religion, or religiosity. The picture I saw during worship and the message came together. Maybe this is one of the little steps towards recovery for us.

At lunch as we were chatting about the experience, we said maybe this is a place we can come to once in a while. The church is too far to come regularly and to get too involved in....and thats a good thing. Enough space for us to come once in a while and be annonymous for a while. The fact that we could visit a couple of wineries after service was a bonus!