Showing Up
I was somewhat dreading this Sunday at my church, as the rector, one of the assisting clergy (who is definitely one of the more engaging preachers of the assisting), a fair number of the people I know, and the organist are all on pilgrimage of one form or another (the organist in the Holy Land, the rest in Wales) and it's summer and a lot of other people are taking vacations.
I considered going to 8 am and having done with, thus not having to worry whether the music was going to *coff* not be up to our normal standards *coff* (Okay, really suck badly). But I signed myself up for some system work, so that was not an option.
I considered visiting another church, but thought that would be letting the side down somehow.
So I showed up, figuring if it was bad, it was as bad as things would get there. And it would probably be the summertime doldrums in other places too. If it sucked, it was going to suck where I knew people.
Attendance was indeed sparse (I'll have to check the register) but a fair number of people were around for a somewhat minimalist version of our regular service. The supply organist played passably, if not well, although I wasn't thrilled by a lot of the musical choices and the singing was quite anemic for us. I noted a number of glitches (which were confirmed by the deacon) and got practice in calming my monkey mind (it wasn't my problem). We were done in an hour (which is almost unheard of) and I had a pleasant time schmoozing at coffee hour, even if a lot of the people I didn't recognize (and had made a note of to introduce myself to) beetled themselves out without staying. I used to do that too, so it's one of those "if you come back and want to talk, we're here" things.
I can't remember a damn thing we did in the service proper except for the Gospel for the day ("my yoke is easy") and the fact that we sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". But I showed up and worked through my fears, which was the important thing.
I considered going to 8 am and having done with, thus not having to worry whether the music was going to *coff* not be up to our normal standards *coff* (Okay, really suck badly). But I signed myself up for some system work, so that was not an option.
I considered visiting another church, but thought that would be letting the side down somehow.
So I showed up, figuring if it was bad, it was as bad as things would get there. And it would probably be the summertime doldrums in other places too. If it sucked, it was going to suck where I knew people.
Attendance was indeed sparse (I'll have to check the register) but a fair number of people were around for a somewhat minimalist version of our regular service. The supply organist played passably, if not well, although I wasn't thrilled by a lot of the musical choices and the singing was quite anemic for us. I noted a number of glitches (which were confirmed by the deacon) and got practice in calming my monkey mind (it wasn't my problem). We were done in an hour (which is almost unheard of) and I had a pleasant time schmoozing at coffee hour, even if a lot of the people I didn't recognize (and had made a note of to introduce myself to) beetled themselves out without staying. I used to do that too, so it's one of those "if you come back and want to talk, we're here" things.
I can't remember a damn thing we did in the service proper except for the Gospel for the day ("my yoke is easy") and the fact that we sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". But I showed up and worked through my fears, which was the important thing.
posted by Charlotte at 8:27 PM
1 Comments:
Charlotte, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who has an equivocal attitude toward "vacation Sundays." ;-) I'm on rotation to lay-preach on our pastor's vacations, so if it's my turn it's kind of a downer to preach to a skimpy and distracted audience...and when I'm part of the skimpy and distracted audience, it's also a downer...but, as you note, if things are going to suck, then at least you're with people you know.;-)
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