Let Us Pray?

Our church service this past week didn't get off to a good start. Our bell choir was to ring during the prelude which was inadvertently skipped over by the liturgist. We were to ring when the liturgist said "Let us worship God;" however, she said, "Let's us pray," so instead we prayed. Thus began a rather comedic service that went from bad to worse.

Sunday church service usually provides me with some time of reflection & spiritual renewal. Often an insightful or inspiring sermon will stay in my mind during the upcoming week. This past Sunday was totally different. Our church is now looking to replace our minister of eight years--one whose presence in the pulpit was both inspiring and a source of comfort for me. We now have the revolving door of ministers while the search is on. Some are good; some are not. Yesterday's minister, however, was beyond terrible causing many of us to wonder, what, if anything, she was trying to convey to us. Her sermon was peppered with long pauses . . . at first, I thought this was perhaps for dramatic effect. As it unfolded though, it seemed these pauses were more that she had either lost her place in her notes or lost her train of thought. They became increasingly frequent as she continued. At some point after she had told an extremely long antedote, she put her hands up to her face & stated, "I don't know why I told that story!" (Duh, neither do we!) I struggled to stay awake & could not tell you anything about her sermon topic. It all became quite laughable as one of my friends noted that the Zundell boys (yes, they are great with the witty comments) would have had a heyday! When mercifully she finally concluded her sermon, she moved on to communion, & I believe we collectively thought that at least we would have this spiritual experience to take from the service. But this was not to be as she "winged" through the Eucharist, not just changing words or phrases, but changing entire paragraphs making it nearly impossible to follow along. The communion was served, but she neglected to serve the elders who had been at the various stations with the bread & wine. Church begins at 10:45 & generally concludes a hour or so later. Sunday I glanced at my watch as I was leaving what felt like a marathon service to find that it was nearly 12:30! When we were on the sidewalk after church & the jokes were flying as if we had just left a comedy club, we were joined by a member who looked absolutely worn out from the nearly two hour ordeal--I guess it could have been worse; he had been volunteering in the nursery!