It was with a sense of trepidation that I left Gilroy to go to
Lake Tahoe last weekend.
It was with a sense of trepidation that I left Gilroy to go to Lake Tahoe last weekend. Not only was I nervous about accepting the invitation from the King’s Beach Church for our small Gilroy church choir to come sing for them, but I’d been suffering from leg pains, and now I would driving in heavy holiday traffic to go sing songs I hardly knew for people I didn’t know at all. Why had I said yes? I should be staying home and relaxing for the Fourth of July.
However, the idea of a cheap retreat was irresistible to my husband, who was sold on the idea as soon as he heard that anyone who sang could stay at the church for free.
So there we were, driving up to the far north end of the lake, a motley crew of the few members of our choir who could get away for the weekend. Our group ranged in age from 9 to 73-years-old, consisting of children from Gilroy schools, a teacher, a social services worker, a senior from Wheeler Manor and a City Hall systems analyst.
There would only be seven of us singing all together. There were so few of us it almost seemed ridiculous.
When we arrived, church members welcomed us to join their Fourth of July BBQ. Their youth group had distributed invitations in the small King’s Beach community (about 4,000 in population), and about 90 people showed up for a very festive time with great food, a watermelon-eating contest, a crafts table and homemade ice cream sundaes.
The church is nestled in a glade of tall fir and pine trees, and features a kitchen, a large fellowship hall, two large downstairs retreat rooms filled with bunk beds, and a sanctuary that seems to be one with the hillside.
We met Dawn and Mike, who started the church’s active youth program by sitting at the church every Wednesday whether any kids showed up or not.
”I was the youth group at first,” Mike said, but he made the commitment to be there for the kids no matter what. Eventually kids began to come in when they saw the open church doors.
Kendra, part of the youth praise band, volunteered to play for us, since we had no accompanist. We met Sheba, a 16-year-old dog who had been afraid to go inside buildings until she had come to this church (”We are a dog-friendly church,” pastor Kathryn Dunning told us).
We were surprised to run into several people we knew from home, including someone from New Hope Community Church in Gilroy.
We sang on the first Sunday of the season when the church meets under the evergreens. As we stood in their beautiful outdoor chapel, we realized that our group of seven fit perfectly on their small stage, and we found that we were helping lead the 35-person congregation in singing some songs from a new hymnal that they weren’t too familiar with.
The people there seemed so appreciative of our efforts, even though at first we had wondered what we had to offer.
We discovered that even away from home, we run into people from home. We discovered that even though we feel we come from a small community, we still have something to contribute to an even smaller community. We learned that it not only takes going away from home to make new connections, but sometimes it takes going away from home to get to know those from home better. Sometimes it takes going to Lake Tahoe to build up closer bonds with friends from Gilroy.
