I didn’t get to go to church this morning. Cecilia is ailing again, and when her fever was 101 last night, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to go.
Can I just say that I HATE missing church? When I came out of her bedroom last night after taking the final temp for the day, I said to Certain Man, “It’s a hundred and one. I hate to think of not going to church tomorrow!”
“Why would that be?” He asked, half absentmindedly. He was working on a sermon and this negates lucid conversation at least part of the day while he is putting the finishing touches on the message.
I was more than a little vehement. “For one reason,” I said, “This is the last sermon you are preaching before your sabbatical.” (Certain Man is taking a six month leave of his position on the leadership team beginning September 1st. He will continue serving as deacon, but he has asked to be relieved of all the other responsibilities.) “And the other thing is,” I went on, “every single time I miss church it seems like something important happens. I’m afraid to stay home for fear I will miss something!”
He didn’t say much. He is used to his wife going off on such tangents. His way of dealing with it is to neither agree nor disagree.
This morning the fever was still hanging around 100 and Cecilia was coughing a deep, troublesome cough. I resigned myself to staying home and sent my good husband off with promises to pray for him while he was preaching and settled in for a quiet morning.
But boy! Oh, boy!!! Did I ever miss important stuff by being home.
The service started off with an announcement of an engagement. Our very own Amy Jones is going to marry that Tyler Schrock. Not that we are surprised, but I really wanted to HEAR it for myself, see the shining faces, rejoice with our church family at the good news and congratulate them for myself. I am so happy for them. Tyler and Amy make a good team, and I am always glad when young people embark on the sea of life and love with some moorings. They have them.
But then, after church, there was another engagement announcement. Mary Beth Sharp is marrying Preston Tice! Mary Beth and her family were absent, so there wasn’t the chance to do the congratulating, but it still would have been fun to be there when the message came through. I missed it.
In addition to all the excitement, I missed the good, good fellowship of our “older” women’s Sunday school class. I draw strength from these women, beloved sisters. We listen to each other, laugh together, cry together and seek to encourage each other. It is a precious time and I look forward to it each week. I missed hearing what was going on in their lives and the easy camaraderie that we share in the forty-five minutes we have on Sunday morning.
And then, in addition to missing Daniel’s sermon, I missed the singing before the sermon and the sharing period that follows. There is just much feeding for my soul that goes on and when I have to miss, I feel out of sorts, out of sync, out of the loop.
And I REALLY hate to miss good stuff like engagement announcements.
Delaware Grammy 