Sunday, June 10, 2007

Miserable Grump in the Pew (me)

Today the priest gave the all-time worst sermon I've ever heard on pain and suffering and a loving God. Boy, did it stink. Basically, he said that people don't suffer past a "certain point" before their souls are "released", and that the suffering that people endure in this world doesn't really matter because things are so fabulous in the next. And, what looks to us like dying is really just changing to a different type of body, so we should celebrate when someone dies. There was a bunch of other stuff, a little of which had some truth to it but was put terribly clumsily, and most of which was utter rubbish.


It didn't help either that T. lost his acolyting privileges for the rest of the month for fooling around in the vesting room before the service. We had given him the usual talk in advance about behaving with dignity, not poking people with the cross, etc., and I know he needs to learn, but the kid loves being an acolyte, and I wish the priest had given him a warning instead. So, I was wretched for my poor naughty boy and I had to listen to a rotten sermon.


The picnic afterwards, though, was very nice. It was catered by a local barbecue place, and the food was good. I don't care for red coleslaw, though, which is apparently a North Carolina thing (I think they take cabbage and put barbecue sauce in it). There was a large cooler full of ice cream bars which were pretty much going begging, and K. ate an incredible number in an effort to save them from melting. I think she might have felt that she had enough, which would have been a first. There was music, too. The group had guitars, a fiddle, a banjo, and a bass -- would you call that a band, or is there another name? Anyway, they were good.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is indeed a band. Were they playing bluegrass?

Melora said...

I don't know if it was bluegrass or some other form of folk music. Now that we are living in an area where fiddle, banjo, and guitar bands seem very common, I will have to learn what is what! It was very pleasant.