One of THOSE Mornings

It was one of those mornings. You know, the kind where nothing seems to quite go right. I arrive at church, head to the sanctuary, to discover that the door's still locked. Now this is unusual because we have a staff person whose job it is to arrive early, open doors, turn on lights, make coffee, and make sure the buildings are ready for the morning. *slap forehead* She told me last week she'd be out of town this weekend on a cruise (envy! envy!).

Get my key out and go into the sanctuary. brrrrrrrrr! It's cold ..... or is it just me? Get things set up and head over to the fellowship hall for our Second Sunday Breakfast. At least that's going well. When it's after 10am, I notice that our accompanist hasn't arrived yet, and she's usually at the church around 10. Walk back into the sanctuary and, yep!, it's cold! Something's happened to the heater and it's not doing its job.

Mild panic! But we've dealt with this type of thing before. Standard operating procedure is to dither for about ten minutes while one or more of our mechanically apt individuals kick the machinery to see if it'll start. Well, it finally started, but there was no way the sanctuary would have been warm enough for our oldsters and toddlers. So, having spent the requisite amount of time dithering, we pulled up stakes (and Advent wreath, collection plates, hymnals, bulletins, and bibles) and headed to the significantly more comfortable parlor. Everyone kicked into high gear and the furniture was rearranged in a timely fashion.

The accompanist arrives in plenty of time for worship and, once the furniture and people are in place, worship begins. I kind of like worshipping in the parlor from time to time. It's cozier, and people have to sit closer. It's a "live" room and sound carries well. So we wend our way through the order of worship.

Of course, the floor is harder for "Time with Young Disciples", but that's not a big problem. One of my members and I do a duet with our accompanist. A loss this particular Advent season is that we currently have no choir director, and so no choir or special music. We've been improvising occasionally, though.

Then comes time for me to read the scripture I'm using for the sermon. "In the sixth month..." That's what the scripture said. It's not what came out of my mouth. It didn't help any that the scripture was the one where the angel Gabriel tells Mary that God's gonna make her pregnant.

I almost made it. Went back. Got to 'sixth' (and actually said it correctly), when from the front came a tiny *snerk*. Should have never made eye contact! I started laughing. *snerk snort* She started laughing. And we were off and running. The whole congregation lost it! Someone suggested it was a good thing we weren't on tv.

Slowly, we regained our composure, I started the scripture again, and we made it through the rest of the worship service. I promise, from this day forward, I'll never say 'sexth' again! *chuckle .... snerk .... snort...* Oh, to heck with it! HA! HA HA HA! HA HA! (everyone needs a good belly laugh from time to time, right?)