monique

Choir Practice

Choir practice started late last night as the pastor was at
the Shedd church having their lenten covenant dinner. Ours
will be on Thursday night.

We discussed the quilt show our church will be doing in May
as we'll soon have to begin gearing up for it. There was
some discussion that perhaps we could have it in September
instead but this would mean getting ready in July and August
and in July we have the Ice Cream Social and in August we
have Vacation Bible School so I don't know if that would be
better or not. I think not.

I also talked to Pastor Ruth after choir practice about
something John and I had discussed on one of our car trip
conversations. I'd asked him if Methodists believe in
purgatory and he said he wasn't sure but he didn't think so.
I was asking, I told him, because as a Catholic I'd been
told that stillborn babies can never go to heaven. Instead
they go to purgatory where they stay for eternity. I always
felt that was unfair. John agreed, saying that if I
believed in a loving and compassionate God, which I do, then
they were all in heaven. I asked the pastor and she told me
the exact same thing that John had: Methodists do not
believe in purgatory and all stillborn babies are in heaven.

I also shared with her that last Sunday she'd begun a prayer
with "In the name of the Father" and John had grabbed my
hand, thinking I might make the sign of the cross without
thinking about it. She surprised me by saying that would
have been fine. She went on to say, without my bringing up
the subject although I had thought about it, that saying the
rosary was fine too. That was a relief to me as I find that
a comfort. I have several rosaries; my small, white bead
First Communion rosary in a little, round brass box, my
grandmother's crystal beads in a tiny silver box lined with
blue felt and Steven's black rosary in a small leather pouch.

One last thing about choir practice. We'll be singing Kyrie
Eleison on Sunday morning. David thought this was French and
I said it wasn't. Pastor Ruth said it was Latin and was
surprised when I told her it wasn't Latin either. "It's
Ancient Greek." I told the choir. "How do you know that?"
they asked me, amazed at my esoteric knowledge. "It says so
right there on the bottom of the page!" I told them! I was
teased about that the rest of the evening.