{"id":2265,"date":"2011-06-16T18:23:45","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T23:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=2265"},"modified":"2011-06-16T18:23:45","modified_gmt":"2011-06-16T23:23:45","slug":"different-church-same-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/different-church-same-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Different church, same Jesus."},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, three of my siblings and my mother\u00a0 made a reverse exodus from Texas to Oklahoma to visit me for a few days (and exhibit their dogs in a dog show – you know, purely coincidental). My youngest sister Aeren (who just turned 7) was one of the lucky three siblings that got to experience Hell <\/del>Tulsa construction at its finest, but was a fabulous sport about it. However, as the week wore on and we inched closer and closer to Sunday, she began to ask the all-important question that every traveling PK faces at some point in any vacation.<\/p>\n

\n“So, when are we going to church?”<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>For me, the heart of this question was always\u00a0“Hey – are we like, actually going to sleep in on Sunday? For once? Really??”, but Aeren. . .not Aeren. Aeren lives, breathes, prays church. She knows every song. She knows the idiosyncratic responses. If she were Catholic she’d be able to say the Mass better than most priests. Her response to everything wrong in the world is an immediate prayer, filled with all the charismatic sincerity in her little girl heart – and Heaven help you if you try and shut the prayer down any sooner than her spirit deems appropriate.<\/p>\n

“We’re not going to Church this weekend, honey,”<\/strong> my mom responded – with a tiny, tiny bit of exasperation at repeating this for the umpteenth time in days.<\/p>\n

“Unless you want to go to Mass with me!” <\/strong>I quipped. I glanced at mom to make sure that this was, in fact, not breaking some unspoken interdenominational family peace treaty, and she simply shrugged.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n“Unless you go to Mass with Kassie.”<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, 7 am Sunday, I woke up, got Aeren dressed and in her wheel-chair, dragged my 16-year-old brother Logan along for the ride, and we headed to the (very beautiful) Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Tulsa for their first Mass experience ever. I tried to give Logan a last-minute rundown on wha the liturgy was going to be like, but ended up confusing the kid more than anything.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Just. . .stop saying the Lord’s Prayer after ‘deliver us from evil’, and read the missalette.” <\/strong>Yeah, I know. Less than helpful.<\/p>\n

The usher asked us to leave her wheel-chair in the back of the sanctuary, which made transporting her more than a little difficult, but we managed – and I made it to the\u00a0confession line without having to add cursing-brusque-ushers to my examine of conscience.<\/p>\n

When it came time for the readings, I couldn’t help but smile at the inclusion of “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you”. I know the theological implications of this statement are far less literal, but standing there with my brother and my sister – one born in Texas the other in the mountains of China – I prayed silently for the orphans left behind, my eyes fixed on the red glow of the tabernacle.<\/p>\n

“Your church is really different, Kassie.” <\/strong>Aeren informed me while playing with my chapel veil in the back seat, in the midst of her rousing rendition of Shout to the Lord.<\/p>\n

“It’s a different church, babe. Same Jesus.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Dude. It’s only 9:15,” <\/strong>Logan said as we picked up bagels for the rest of the family after Mass.\u00a0“They haven’t even started sound check at home and I’ve already been to church and watched people cannibalize Jesus.” <\/strong>. . .yeah. That’s my brother. (#facepalm).<\/p>\n

So, fellow converts, how do y’all prepare friends and family for first-time Mass visits?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, three of my siblings and my mother\u00a0 made a reverse exodus from Texas to Oklahoma to visit me for a few days (and exhibit their dogs in a dog show – you know, purely coincidental). My youngest sister Aeren (who just turned 7) was one of the lucky three siblings that… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":156959,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/sunday-says-podcast-october-4-2015-mass-readings-and-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":0},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – October 4, 2015 Mass Readings and Reflection","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"October 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"October 4, 2015 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 140 (NAB Translation) (Jerusalem Bible Translation) Reading 1 Genesis 2:18-24 This week\u2019s first reading comes to us from the well known reading from Genesis. This is the origin story of Eve in Adam\u2019s search for a companion. This reading can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sunday Says"","block_context":{"text":"Sunday Says","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/sundaysays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunday Says Podcast","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":349820,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/sunday-says-podcast-january-15-2017-mass-readings-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":1},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – January 15, 2017 Mass Readings and Reflections","author":"Steve Scott","date":"January 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time Sunday January 15, 2016 Lectionary: 64 (NAB Translation) Reading 1 Isaiah 49:3,5-6 This week\u2019s first reading is from the forty-ninth chapter of the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 This chapter introduces us to the \"Suffering Servant\" whose vocation was to liberate the people of Israel and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ACNM"","block_context":{"text":"ACNM","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo1-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":115481,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/sunday-says-may-24-2015-mass-readings-and-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":2},"title":"Sunday Says – May 24, 2015 Mass Readings and Reflection","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"May 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Pentecost Sunday - May 24, 2015 Lectionary: 6 (NAB Translation) This is the great celebration of Pentecost, the joyful end to the season of Easter. Reading 1 ACTS 2:1-11 This week\u2019s first reading is the central story of the Pentecost event in the book of Acts. We hear how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sunday Says"","block_context":{"text":"Sunday Says","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/sundaysays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunday Says Podcast","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":131106,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/sunday-says-july-19-2015-mass-readings-and-reflection\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":3},"title":"Sunday Says – July 19, 2015 Mass Readings and Reflection","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"July 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 107 (NAB Translation) Reading 1 Jeremiah 23:1-6 This week\u2019s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah is a call out of leaders in the church. God has given us many different forms of leadership in the Church. Any form of shepherding requires a closeness with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sunday Says"","block_context":{"text":"Sunday Says","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/sundaysays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunday Says Podcast","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22497,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/beauty-of-truth-podcast-ep-7-why-do-we-have-to-go-to-church-every-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":4},"title":"Beauty of Truth Podcast – Ep 7 Why do we have to go to church every week?","author":"Beauty Of Truth Podcast","date":"September 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"[powerpress] Ep 7 Why do we have to go to church every week? \u00a0\u00a0 Questions Can\u2019t I just pray and read the bible at home? Why aren\u2019t the big celebrations enough? What if I have to work or am on vacation? \u00a0 Catechetical Moment CCC #\u00a02181 Living the Truth What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beauty of Truth Podcast"","block_context":{"text":"Beauty of Truth Podcast","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/podcast\/beauty-of-truth\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/BeautyOfTruthPodcastLogo-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":124040,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/a-response-to-what-sucks-about-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":2265,"position":5},"title":"A Response to “What Sucks about the Catholic Church”","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"June 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every spring brings the Church a batch of shiny new Catholics, and every year I see the same list of complaints. No, not the ones about people \"taking your pew.\" The ones about the niggling weaknesses in the Church. Many adults who enter the Catholic Church, especially those who were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Response to \"What Sucks about the Catholic Church,\" at AustinCNM.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/acnmreponsetowhatsucks-550x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/acnmreponsetowhatsucks-550x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/acnmreponsetowhatsucks-550x394.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}