Oh dear. Did anyone imagine that I might grow up after ordination? I think I did kind of entertain the hope myself, but clearly that's not part of the deal...spent most of tonight's Evening Prayer speechless with laughter, and I'm not even sure why!
It was my turn to read rather than lead, and the Old Testament was a chunk of Jeremiah, one of those passages with a dozen impossible names in far fewer verses. I was doing fine till I fell over Gemariah, and then, for some reason, all was lost. Instead of carrying on, I heard myself apologising to the guy concerned "Oh, I am so sorry....but you do have a really stupid name" and there followed one of those periods of total hysteria during which every attempt to compose yourself is in itself screamingly, breath catchingly, overwhelmingly funny...I would pull myself together to get another couple of words out, only to corpse again...and again...Michael didn't help, mind you, as he said with an air of gentle puzzlement "I'd never seen Jeremiah as such a comic".
Quite what anyone coming into church at that point would have made of us I dread to think....two middle-aged clergy giggling away like a couple of school children. I was quite unable to complete the reading, and there was a prolonged pause before either of us felt able to finish the Office.
Thank you, God, for the sort of boss who enjoys the ridiculous, and thank you even more for the gift of laughter.
7 comments:
I love it! When I was 14 and started going to the Baptist church with my friend- her dad was deacon there - we only started going cos they had a Coffee bar and Friday night youth club and boys! - there was one hymn they sang that used to have us hysterical- the chorus was
Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner,
Ready, steady, pass the word along...
You have to know the tune to appreciate it, but it's the kind that makes you sway, and we used to bump each other on 'pass' and enarly wet oursleves. It was trying not to laugh in a disapproving church which nearly killed us... fortuna
I love it! When I was 14 and started going to the Baptist church with my friend- her dad was deacon there - we only started going cos they had a Coffee bar and Friday night youth club and boys! - there was one hymn they sang that used to have us hysterical- the chorus was
Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner,
Ready, steady, pass the word along...
You have to know the tune to appreciate it, but it's the kind that makes you sway, and we used to bump each other on 'pass' and enarly wet oursleves. It was trying not to laugh in a disapproving church which nearly killed us... fortuna
I love it! When I was 14 and started going to the Baptist church with my friend- her dad was deacon there - we only started going cos they had a Coffee bar and Friday night youth club and boys! - there was one hymn they sang that used to have us hysterical- the chorus was
Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner,
Ready, steady, pass the word along...
You have to know the tune to appreciate it, but it's the kind that makes you sway, and we used to bump each other on 'pass' and enarly wet oursleves. It was trying not to laugh in a disapproving church which nearly killed us... fortuna
I love it! When I was 14 and started going to the Baptist church with my friend- her dad was deacon there - we only started going cos they had a Coffee bar and Friday night youth club and boys! - there was one hymn they sang that used to have us hysterical- the chorus was
Rouse then, soldiers, rally round the banner,
Ready, steady, pass the word along...
You have to know the tune to appreciate it, but it's the kind that makes you sway, and we used to bump each other on 'pass' and enarly wet oursleves. It was trying not to laugh in a disapproving church which nearly killed us... fortuna
OOps how did that happen. How do you delete a comment? No idea what I did there. Sorry x
And it is 6.20 pm, not 10.15am.......
I think it''s fucking gorgeous.
Post a Comment