Live a Little – Sit on the other side of the church!

Today I did the wildest thing!  I sat on the other side of the church!

 Well, sort of.  You know how everyone seems to have ‘their seat’ in church; butt cheeks seem stuck to that one place in that one particular pew each and every Sunday.  So every once in a while I suggest to" me Auntie",  that we sit some place other than 5 pews  from the altar, left centre aisle because I am bored of sitting in the same place for holy Mass and I’m really curious as to what goes on, on the other side of the church?    I tell her, “Let’s live a little, let’s sit someplace else for a change”.    The woman always watches me as if I am talking an unknown language rather than English, gives me a bit of a deprecating smile, sometimes there may be a chuckle and moves forward to the same pew!  So I’ve given up on her with that.  Love her dearly though.  

But she’s on vacation out of the country, so today, I went to church alone and as I walked to that 5th pew from the altar, I hesitated and then like an arrow shot out of its bow, flew to a seat near the middle but kind of to the back of the church, still left centre aisle.  Yes, I did it!   I sat and no one sat near to me, hmn… “The stranger”, I thought, they were thinking.  Then a family came and sat at the other end of the pew.  I felt as if I was accepted even with the big gap between me and them.  Lol!

It’s interesting when you try something out of the ordinary, even as insignificant as sitting in a different space.  You test not only your nerves but your beliefs.  You see things another way.   Now I see church as a place of quiet, mindful rest but my belief is not necessarily shared by children and their parents.  Do you know, children cling, much like monkeys to their mothers’ arms, they run and jump like monkeys too, really cute.  Most adults just don’t cling and run seemingly simply delighted at being alive!  The children’s energy,(a little distracting) taught me patience this morning.   “Woosaah”, breathe in love, “woosah”, breathe out patience. Days often pass where I do not touch another human being.  The only 'person' I touch is the dog!  So I really don't mind joining hands in communal pray to our Father after all, it's not like a 'holding hands, making plans' thing so why should anyone mind?    Well today, I learnt that when people really don’t want to hold your hand, you indeed become your brother’s keeper, holding up that dead weight called an arm, until the end of the prayer!   

Curls, bald heads, braids, and topknots, straight hair, grey hair and the hair of many colours  is what I saw before me.  During the exchanging of God’s peace via a handshake I was able to place the back of the head to the face.  That exchange was the greatest, since I saw so many new people and felt so many new handshakes.  Some greetings were warm and generous, others seemed timid, some who were further than arm’s length sent peace in the form of a wave of the hand and yet other parishioners  just watched suspiciously, a forehead ruffled like brown ruching, shirred tightly and did not even exchange a smile much less the sign of peace!   I am sure the humour showed on my face as I laughed hilariously within myself at those individuals.

I lived a little today.  I saw other members of my parish those whom I’ve never seen before, young families with their wonderful new babies, old couples leaning on each other, like trees bending to and fro in one of our tropical afternoon rainstorms, bright-eyed teenage boys and girls, fathers standing proudly with their daughters, mothers watching their acolyte sons, their eyes following each gesture he makes, older siblings guiding their younger ones forward to receive the blessing.    I hope they saw me too.  I also felt love and kindness through the little one who sat uncomfortably at the edge of the seat while I knelt in the pew behind her praying.    I practiced today’s  gospel (Mark 7: 31-37) unintentionally.   I opened my mind!  What fun!

Have you ever gone to church to live a little?  Try it sometime; your experience will be different than mine, your community may grow stronger for it.

September 9, 2012

September 16, 2012

She’s back… so it will be 5 pews from the altar, left centre aisle!  Heh, Auntie has got to catch up on ‘de ole talk’ before the Mass starts.  LOL!

Until,