Struggling to get to church in the summer

After years of figuring out how to get from the east side of Madison to Grace Church during Art Fair on the Square, Taste of Madison, IronMan, Ride the Drive, assorted races, parades, and marches, I thought I had my transportation plan down to a science. I looked online for the event map, the Madison Metro bus detours, and the city parking guides. Then I would choose the best combination of driving, bussing, biking, and walking.

That is until the Sunday that the Madison marathon brought me to tears. I had done my due diligence and decided that bicycling was the way to go. My son was in elementary school at the time and had spent the night at his grandma's house downtown. I was to meet up with them at Michaelangelo's Coffee Shop, and then we would all go to church together.

I followed the path I had set out. I was sure I knew which way the race course went around the square. I knew that there was no way to cross the course the last few blocks, and I was positive I was coming upon it from the north side: allowing access to both Michaelangelo's and Grace.

I do not remember how I ended up where I did. I only remember being blocks away from a crossing point, crowds too thick to ride my bike or even walk it, and this barrier between me and my destination.  

  

 

I can still feel the raw emotion as I stood there and, unsuccessfully, tried not to cry.

There have been other Sundays when I had my family with me while trying to navigate yet another downtown event that was making it hard to get to church. There were days when I really did not want to expend the energy or get up a few minutes earlier.

Why do I battle downtown events week-in and week-out? Because being in church every Sunday is important. Being in church when it is hard to be there is as important, or even more important, than being in church when it is easy to get there.

Communal worship is about building relationships: relationships with God, with yourself, with your family, with God's family.  Relationships strengthen and grow when they are tended to on a regular basis.

Darby

(I wrote this as I was trying to figure out how to maneuver around last weekend's Art Fair on the Square.)