Low Sunday: Before I Forget

So, again I preached on what is known as "low Sunday" in some circles (although never in ours).  To be fair, I did get the opportunity to preach on Easter twice here, for the large crowds that come on Easter Sunday.  This is not an opportunity that your average Senior Pastor shares lightly.

We do not call the 2nd Sunday in Easter "low Sunday" although we do give the choir the Sunday off, and some of the people also seem to take the Sunday off as well.  So, the congregation was not quite as full on Sunday. 

It wasn't so low for me, though.

There was no choir, but there was a wonderful soloist at our first service, singing Handel's "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth."  At the second service we recognized the Sunday School teachers, and all of their students gave them flowers.  Also, the cherubs sang, and jumped around, and they made us jump around too.

We had our first annual Mother/Daughter Brunch after church (four kinds of quiche, salad, fruit, rosemary potatoes...).  I invited my mom to come to worship and to the brunch with me.  When I saw her sitting in the church, I approached her.  She said to me, mysteriously, I thought, "Someone from your past is here today."

I raced back out to the narthex, looking for the mysterious visitor.  No one.  I raced back into the sanctuary (thirty seconds after the worship service should have started) and whispered to my mom, "I didn't see anyone."  She said, "They said they were staying for the church service."

So I had the congregation stand and we began to sing the opening songs. 

Then I spotted them:  two old friends from college.  They had gotten married and moved to Idaho, then to Washington State.  I hadn't seen them for I don't know how many years.   I had roomed with her in college, and, since we both lived in the Twin Cities, we ended up getting together during the summers as well.  We went to prayer meetings together.  We sang together (special music) at my church.  

I did my heart good to see them.

I now have their email address.

Oh, and another thing, before I forget:  the day before 'low Sunday', I was at the 9th grade confirmation retreat.  I was going through the promises that the confirmands make, helping them to know what promises they are making.  I remember backing up a bit when they promise to 'proclaim the gospel,' to ask them, 'what is the gospel, anyway?  What are we proclaiming? 

And I told them that they were part of the body of Christ, and that they had gifts to share, and that we needed their gifts in our congregation, we needed their voices, their ideas, their thoughts.  One of the girls turned to me and said, "Thank you."

That's the other thing that made my day.