the floating fiesta

Yesterday, we went to a friend's house for lunch after church. It was nice to have the opportunity to come together, but oh, if only our reason for gathering had been that simple. Like the Blues Brothers, we were on a mission from God. Our purpose was not to save an orphanage from foreclosure, as was Jake and Elwood's, but rather to build the church float for the upcoming parade for the Blue Mound Fall Festival.

The theme for this year's Fall Festival is "Festival Fiesta." Trying to find a way to tie the Mexican culture with our church was not an easy task. We tried our best to someway tie God to a Mexican party associated with big, round hats and margaritas, but kept coming up blank. We thought it more than somewhat sacrilege to offer up a float depicting Jesus with a sombrero, holding maracas and a bottle of tequila. We finally settled on "Sunday morning is no time for siesta," meaning that you should be in church, rather than sleeping in. I thought this slogan was pretty good, until we tried it on a few people and they said, "what's a siesta?" I think I mistakenly thought there were a few words that, though foreign, had acclimated their way into the English language - - for example, what about: croissant, voilà, bonjour, or faux pas? Though all French in origin, most English speakers are easily able to understand the meaning in those words.

Hopefully there will be someone standing by who knows the Spanish word for "nap" when a parade watcher looks at our float and questions, "what's a siesta?" Regardless, as long as there is candy thrown, I don't think anyone will really care.