Chapter 8

Sunday morning arrived too early the next day. Luckily it was Lincoln Lutheran’s turn for the 11:00 o’clock service. Pastor Thorson served the parish of Lincoln and Lands, and they rotated their services between 9:00 and 11:00 o’clock. Lincoln was a country church between Redmont and Barrett, and Lands Lutheran was in the town of Redmont. Raina had been told that they shared Luther League, confirmation classes, and Vacation Bible School as well. Katie told her that this was helpful, in that many of the Pederson children were on friendly terms with their peers from the rival school, Redmont District #204. This made the school interactions more fun and very competitive. Yet, win or lose, friendships were maintained. On their way to church, Aunt Karina scanned the station wagon for dirty fingernails and faces and checked the hair condition of the youngest ones.

“LeAnne, I thought you said that you were going to comb Jane’s hair.”

“I meant to, but I couldn’t find her at the time,” LeAnne explained.

“Well, here’s a comb. It looks like there’s a rat’s nest in there.”

Jane’s fine blonde hair looked obviously slept on. She had bathed before going to bed and now had bits and pieces of hair standing up everywhere. That is except for the little wad (the so-called “rat’s nest”) that had knotted itself together on the back of her head. Raina could relate. It seemed her family’s lot to have tangled hair in the morning. The fine stuff just could not help but tangle, if you moved your head at all during the night. Raina was used to combing it with water if she took a shower the night before school. It was just too hectic in the morning to worry about showering then.

“Does anyone have any water?” LeAnne inquired.

“Don’t you spit on that comb!” Jane said protectively.

Raina remembered her brush was inside her purse. Surely that wouldn’t hurt as much as a comb. She took it out and passed it to LeAnne, who then had slightly more success, but Jane still had somewhat of a rooster’s tail sticking up as they drove into the parking lot. Jackson’s nails were discovered to contain some garden topsoil and were quickly cleaned out by his mother. The bell had already rung as they hurried out of the car. Joey let the car door slam and was hushed by several of his sisters. Once inside it was unfortunately obvious that the only open pews were the ones up front, so all eleven made an unintentionally noticed entrance. They received a few funny looks, and after the service Mr. Larson made a joke to Uncle Samuel that insinuated he had tried to claim the front pew, as it was ushered out first for coffee and bars.

After the snack, Raina joined her cousins for Sunday school. The whole group met together first with Uncle Samuel and sang, “Deep and Wide,” and “Day by Day,” and then separated into age groups and went with different teachers. Raina enjoyed meeting some of the Redmont students who attended Lincoln rather than Lands for proximity reasons. Her teacher, Mrs. Ingstad, also was quite good at teaching and made the Bible stories come alive. Soon, however, class ended and Raina heard a small bell ring. It signaled everyone to come back together to close with the Lord’s Prayer.

Raina liked Lincoln with its pretty steeple and friendly members. She also learned that it was named after President Lincoln because some now deceased members, who lay in the cemetery next to the church, had attended Mr. Lincoln’s funeral after the Civil War and had been deeply moved by it.

She was especially impressed with a quote she had seen in one of the member directories on a display table in the church.

It went like this: “Lincoln church may seem to some a small place, out of the way, little noticed by the world. But I don’t think it should apologize for being what it is. It is a place where God has made his love known, and so it is as great as any cathedral of any city. Any place where God makes himself known is a great place.” —Former Lincoln Pastor James A. Lokken.

Things were going well. Raina felt convinced she had made the right choice in coming here. Thanksgiving was only a month away. She would see her mom and dad relatively soon.