Different Worlds Part 2

So 4.5 hours after leaving the hustle, bustle, and utter terror of Jersey City, we arrived at Interlaken Reformed Church in Interlaken, NY. It was obvious immediately that this venue was far more excited about our presence than NYC when we were greeted by this:



Their little boys only got more adorable.

We loaded in and sound checked in the sanctuary of the church (and we're talking a for real sanctuary, not a gymnasium like our church back in Chicago). So I guess that meant we were gonna have to watch our mouths, since the 4 year olds running around weren't reason enough.

So after sound checking we went downstairs for dinner which they prepared for us (post service potluck style), and it was a veritable feast, especially when compared to the graham crackers and McDonald's that had constituted most of the meals we had experienced thus far. Then the pastor asked the kids if they had any questions for us (might be our first Q&A we've ever done). We successfully convinced them that we were far bigger rock stars then we are.

The show itself went well, though we started to realize that our stage banter has depended on people drinking and talking among themselves a little too much. When everyone just watches you in rapt attention between songs, your self-deprecating stories of breaking a string one time when you played outdoors seem a whole lot more shallow.

While it did seem odd to sing a couple songs about drinking, or a few about jaded neurotic romance gone wrong in a sanctuary, I didn't think it was at all out of place. Ministry can be done just as effectively in a bar as in a cathedral, and it has become more and more clear that we were not called to do the latter. Given the conservative feel of the congregation, the fact that a couple people later said our show turned into a wonderful worship experience is testament alone to the power of God through music.

Then after the show we went to our merch table to sell CDs and T-shirts, and we didn't have to wait long before a line of people wanting to purchase merch and get autographs formed. It was odd to have people want to talk to you, rather than willing to talk to you when you offer them a sticker and ask them if they want to be on your newsletter.

Now one question you may have had right at the start of this post was "What on earth were you doing in Interlaken?" (Names included as "shout-outs") Well my freshman year of college roommate (Jeff Jackson) has been a fan of ours for a while, and he converted his sister (Tina VandeSlunt) into a fan as well, and her and her husband (Derek VandeSlunt), who's the pastor of Interlaken Reformed Church, wondered if we would ever be able to play a show out there. So there you go.

So that night we hung out with them and another wonderful couple from the church (Charity and Mark) and we chatted about a whole slew of things, while playing with their aggressively attention starved dogs (Rupp and Arena). We learned that Interlaken was pronounced with a "lake" and not a "lock." We also learned that we had offended a few people at the church before we had even arrived (mainly with the song Rosalyn). The world seemed so calm compared to where we had been 18 hours or so before.

Also, I spotted this on the wall of Tina and Derek's house:

Sorry for the blurriness of the picture, but it's a poster of the South Haven Lighthouse (my home town in Michigan). I'd never felt so at home.

The next day we started the trek back to Pittsburgh, weaving our way through the Appalachian mountains on the way, realizing the crazy difference in experiences we've already had, and we've only been on the road 4 days. What a disjointed life this is.