one of "them" days

Today was one of those Sundays when you wish you were a parishioner and could find an excuse to stay home.

It's summer -- attendance is down. That's normal.

We're taking a special offering with kids from Jr. Church helping. Miscommunication causes pastor's wife and taped music to play at same time. Pastor's wife abruptly ends with a little flourish and sits quietly.

Normal flow of service is changed because of offering. Choir members don't know when to file up so they sit in congregation and sing. The risers are empty.

Person singing special couldn't do it. Pastor and wife step up to fill in. Pastor's wife can't remember what song it is so she can play intro (they don't have their music book because they weren't planning to sing). It's in the hymnal, but because she can't remember what they hurriedly decided downstairs in the study, she can't look it up. So she sits. Pastor stands beside piano, and in his words of intro, announces the name of the song. She wings it from memory, with a quick prayer to the Lord for help remembering the chords.

Visitors are present.

Pastor's wife forgot to put frozen chicken on counter to thaw. Sunday dinner is late.

It's not a day to remember in the annals of pastoral history. But we did it. Some Sundays, you just hang on and check off. Not in a spiritual sense of course. But in the ebb and flow of ministry, not every Sunday can be a bell-ringer (if we had a bell, it probably wouldn't have rung either!)