As I prepared for church on Sunday, I was reminded what it was like getting ready for church as a child: five children, 2 parents, and 1 bathroom. And a Volkswagen Beetle. It was a weekly challenge our mother struggled with, but considered to be a blessing. She would never wish to change any part of it.
I was blessed to go to two church services last Sunday - the traditional one which begins with the Procession (the Warden still swings the incense, reminding us of the prayers of God's faithful), and ends with the Communion hymn. And of course the coffee, tea, and biscuits after.
Then in the middle of the afternoon there is a service they call Wild Church. You can see in the photo above that this service doesn't take place out in the Vicar's garden right now. It takes place in the ancient church called St John's in the Fields, for now it is too cold to be out in anybody's garden.
You should just see the families who crowd in there! Young and old line up for coffee and cake while chattering and catching up; families who no doubt lined up in order to get ready for church,
like we used to. It was this that reminded me of the Sundays of decades back. I felt immensely at home.
like we used to. It was this that reminded me of the Sundays of decades back. I felt immensely at home.
As the sermon commenced, I watched as the children took it in. They reminded me of a field of wheat moving with the wind, back and forth, little mouths opening and closing but with their eyes still on the face of the Vicar. They moved, they stood and then sat, they sometimes ran, laughed, and in the end they got it. And all throughout the sermon, their parents and grandparents also had their eyes on the face of the Vicar. Undistracted, wanting to learn.
It was the sweetest thing,
See you along the Way!
the Scone Lady
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