All Are Welcome

Yesterday I brought Nora to VBS at the Lutheran church where her friend, Luke, goes to preschool. Luke's mom and I drove into the parking lot at the same time, got out of the car and she says to me, "I'm sooooo sorry. I just noticed this morning that they needed to be pre-registered by June 20. I called and they said they have 2 preschool openings." We were there early to register anyway, so we went in hoping that we'd get the 2 openings.

Walked in. Immediately in front of us is the name tag/greeter desk. Immediately behind the desk are the doors to the gym - where the kids were gathering and would be singing. Above the door to the gym was a huge sign that said, "All Are Welcome."

We walked in and were immediately greeted by the greeter lady. She asked if we were registered and we told her that we weren't, but would like to try to register the two kids anyway. She went into a tizzy about how they are supposed to be pre-registered. Meanwhile, Ryann is pushing Georgia all over the place in her stroller, Luke's mom had gone to talk to someone else about registering the kids and this lady is yapping about there not being enough space for Nora and Luke and she would go talk to the head of VBS.

I found my friend who had been told that they would get the kids in and it wouldn't be a problem. As she was registering Luke, the Greeter came back to me and went on and on about how the leader of VBS was going to find out if it was okay if the non-registered kids could come in. I told her that my friend had worked it out with this other lady. "Oh no, the VBS leader needs to ask if there is enough space in the preschool for your kids. I don't think that is okay." I looked at her and said, "I'm just the mom - you need to go work that out with the other lady. As far as I'm concerned they're getting registered."

I don't think she knew how to respond.

Nora and Luke got in and all was good. Until we picked them up... It was mass chaos as all VBS's are when it is pick up time. As Luke's mom and I were leaving with all of our kids (she has 3 and I have 3) a VBS lady came up to us and looked rather friendly. I thought she was going to ask the kids how Bible school was and if they had a good time - she just had that look on her face. This is what she said:

"Um, He needs to leave that hat here - he can't take it home with him." That was it. Rude - totally rude.

Evidently, All are only welcome when they are pre-registered and not trying to run off with the props.

I was thoroughly disgusted by this whole situation (and if Nora hadn't asked to go back, I don't think I would have brought her back this morning). Come on - All are welcome. Really? You're really going to put that sign up and advertise that to the world and then act like that? I understand the idea behind pre-registering kids. I also understand the confusion of the first day of VBS, however, where is the christian spirit - the acceptance, the "it doesn't matter, we love you and we welcome you even if it means we have to cut a cupcake in half so you can have a snack with us"?

When are we going to REALLY walk the walk? When are we going to REALLy act like Christ? Why can't we just love each other? Why does life get in the way and we find the details and the organizational stuff more important than loving each other?