And God Chuckled

A Sunday or two ago, we had a replacement priest for the weekend Masses.  Our permanent pastor was away leading a pilgrimage and this retired priest was kind enough to help out by celebrating Mass with us.

He has a very loud voice and oh my!  He was just so enthusiastic about God.  He boomed out his sermon and the prayers of the Mass - no sound system needed.  It's two weeks later and I do believe my ears are still ringing!  It was a different way to worship, perhaps a little more distracting, since in our parish we're used to Father Gerry's more serene and reflective style.

But "Father Replacement" kept us alert and just waiting to see what would happen next.  For example, at the Prayer Intentions he jumped in ahead of the reader of the prayers and prayed a long list of his own, which more or less anticipated the prayers written for that Mass.  When the reader finally got her chance to speak the prayers, Father chuckled at each one, as he realized what he'd done.  Eventually, we were all laughing with him as the reader began each new prayer and barely able to give the response, "Lord, hear our prayer."

The best incident though was when Father began to chant a prayer and realized he'd forgotten to wait until the altar server had brought forward the Sacramentary with the words.  Without missing a beat, Father sang, "Oh God, Almighty Father..."sweetheart, could you bring me the book because I'm not sure what comes next."  The altar serving was grinning from ear to ear as she brought the Sacramentary forward and the rest of us were laughing out loud as Father grinned and sang the correct words to the prayer.  When he had intoned the ending and we had all chanted the appropriate, "Amen," Father grinned at us and continued chanting, "Thank you, sweetheart, I don't know what I would have done without you!"  And now the poor altar server was giggling out loud as she returned the book to its place on the altar.

And I suspect that God was chuckling with us and pleased that we were enjoying Mass in a different way.  Laughter can be prayer.  If all of life is to be prayer, then laughter and weeping and anxiety and surprise and gladness have to be part of that.  Even anger (righteous anger, that is) and disappointment and sadness can be prayer.  We human beings with all our variable emotions are created in the image of God, as the bible tells us.  That makes me believe that God also has those emotions and is happy (another emotion) to share in them with us.  Even babies show emotion:

It's anybodies guess what Kara is feeling here but we know, because she's a human being, that she's feeling some kind of emotion.

Sometimes we're quite certain we know what emotion baby Kara is feeling.

I suspect that on the Sunday in question, Kara would have laughed out loud with us, had she been able to understand what was happening.  I'm willing to bet that "Father Replacement" had God in stitches, too!

In The Silence

Now there was a great wind ... but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1Kings 19:11-13)

It's been quiet here on my country mile for the last few days.  I've taken a little time off work and spent most of the time sitting in my gazebo with the dogs snoozing at my side.  My intention was to read and pray and write ... and I did some of that.  And I also spent a lot of time hearing, seeing, and feeling God in the silence of nature when it quietens itself for rest in the evening.

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

That's what I've been doing these last few days and it has done my soul such good.  I hadn't realized how much I needed this time until I was able to let go of the world outside my country mile home and meet God where God was waiting for me.

A plaque on the wall of my home office reads:  

Make time for quiet moments

As God whispers

And the world is loud.

Twelve Things

Oh dear; I can't explain how it happened that it's been so much longer than I intended before posting again.  My only excuse is that it's been a much busier summer than I expected, in a very good way for the most part. 

One of my brothers had a very severe accident and that took a bite out of my time and energy (he's well on the way to recovery now after a pretty scary few days); the delightful Kara is a constant draw for this doting Oma; there's yard work without end this year; and all kinds of birthdays and other enjoyable family events mean hours spent with people I love ... and less time to write.

So, just for fun, here are twelve things you might not have known about me, unless you're one of my siblings. 

1. I am the oldest in my family of origin.

2. I have two sisters and three brothers.

3. My sisters and I are only thirteen months apart, which says something amazing about how well my mother coped with babies so close together.

4. I was ten years old before I knew my name.  That's a topic for another post but let me reassure you that it's not as bad as it sounds .

5. I spoke German only as a child and had to learn English on the fly, as it were, when I started school at six years old - no kindergarten in the town where we lived then.

6. I was a straight A student, until I encountered high school Math and Physics.

7. I've visited Germany and parts of Europe four times.

8. Beyond my parents, siblings and their families, and my own family, I have no relatives in Canada - no aunts, uncles, cousins - although some have come to Canada to visit from time to time.

9. I hold a preMasters degree in English literature and planned to become a high school English teacher.  But that changed and I still appreciate the degree because it inspired my love of writing.

10. I have raised four amazing children (with a little help from "the Squire," of course).

11. I'm the proud Oma of four wonderful grandchildren.

 12. My oldest grandchild is 13 years old and the youngest is now three months old.