Our Easter Sunday

Our Easter was quite unique this year. We have several family traditions that we were able to keep such as coloring Easter eggs, making Resurrection cookies, enjoying easter baskets hidden by the Easter Bunny (thanks Mr. Bunny, good job this year) and going to church and having an Easter egg hunt.

It's the church part that made our Sunday unique this year. We were having a relaxing morning enjoying the girls shouting "He is risen!" as they enjoyed Easter candy and got ready for church. They each had special Easter outfits to wear and had been looking forward to it for weeks.

Since we are originally from warmer climates, Easter dresses are usually not warm but the last couple years here there has been snow on the ground. Undaunted, the girls still dressed for Spring, sandals included.

Somehow, though we should have had plenty of time, we found ourselves rushing at the last minute to make it to church on time. We wanted to go to the middle service with the horns and choir, all the pomp and circumstance that you'd expect for a Resurrection Celebration. Ten minutes before it was time to leave the girls were barely ready to go and Jen was still in her PJs.

I suggested that perhaps we just relax and go to the next service but Jen looked at me with fire in her eyes and burned my nose off with laser beams saying "No! I'll be ready. I want to hear the horns!" To her credit, she was ready in 8 minutes flat, hair and all. I was amazed, never seen that in 15 years of marriage.

So we were pulling into the church parking lot about 2 minutes after the service was to start. I ordered the older girls to go straight to our usual seat in the balcony, if they didn't find a place to sit they were to wait for us there. Jen was to take Riesa to the nursery and rendevous with Meg and Noelle. I was on parking duty.

By the time I got to the balcony the girls had already discovered that there were no seats available in our usual spot. They saw some empty seats on the other side of the balcony and rushed around to that side only to find "reserved for brass" on the bench. When I got to them we all stood there wondering what to do as the service was under way, people were watching us uncomfortably and, I think, wishing we would just sit down so they could pay attention to the service.

Finally an usher came by and told us just to sit in the "reserved" area. "It will be fine, there should be enough room for you." he said. So we squished in as far as we could to give the brass whatever room we could, not knowing what to expect exactly.

The choir was beautiful, the brass played some majestic praise, very classical and proper kind of service. I should say that we generally go to the last service which is more contemporary, laid back and very not formal. So, this service is a little out of our comfort zone anyway. We sensed a collective sigh from those around us when we finally settled in a bit.

Still we are not a quiet bunch. I think Noelle dropped her shoes a couple times which fell with a THUD that seemed to echo to all those below. There were things going on that the girls were unfamiliar with and as good home school kids, when they don't understand something they are not afraid to ask. The problem is that they don't know how to whisper so they asked full voiced and unashamed. This not only disturbed those around us further but also revealed to them that we must never take our kids to church either.

After a bit, the brass section began to disband from their spots and they reappeared to the side of our pew with smiles on their faces. At first they seemed to think we might be ok, then they realized that there was no way the French horns were going to fit there with us. So we evacuated our pew and allowed them to sit. This left us standing in the aisle of the balcony back with the uncomfortable looks from those who got to the service on time.

I didn't know how long the brass folks were going to need our pew, I supposed that it might be for the rest of the service and rather than stand in the aisle, perhaps it would be better just to sit on the stairs. Now these stairs lead directly down to the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a quarter round so from where we sat we were basically facing those on the other side of the church. This wasn't a problem as long as we just sat still, I was sure people would begin to ignore us and turn their attention where it should be.

After the horns played, the pastor got up and said it was time for prayer. As the congregation stood, we stood along with them, again sticking out rather like sore thumbs. There was a quiet moment, very brief, perhaps only a second, after the congregation stood but before pastor started to pray. It was that kind of reverent silence of a people who are collectively preparing their hearts to go before the Lord. That's when I saw a glimmer at my feet.

It was my coffee cup. It shone in the light of the sanctuary as it tipped over on the step. Then it rolled in slow motion and I heard a scream in my head that said "NNnnnooooooooooooooooo"! I thought for a moment about making a diving save but then it reached the end of that first step and "THUD" hit the next step. I thought God would have mercy on me and it would stop after one step but much to my chagrin and dismay it only picked up momentum and flew off that step, missed the next one and began to spin from step to step all the way to the sanctuary floor. Now, this is not the service that people bring coffee cups into so I was already breaching protocol. Now everyone was looking at my family on the steps wondering what the heck we were doing. Then my coffee cup appeared at the bottom of the steps as if to say "Hey everyone, look at the irreverent doofus on the steps."

I am still somewhat surprised that they didn't send someone over to us and request us to go home.

Well, after prayer, the brass section left and we were able to go back to the seats. At communion time we went down the back steps and noticed the overflow room where everyone else who arrived late had gone. We had no idea there was an overflow room. We must have looked like pushy people who refused to be considered "overflow". Thus, I blame this whole fiasco squarely on the usher who first told us "I think you'll be fine." I know he's redeemed but when he arrives at the Judgment seat of Christ I hope He will play this little episode for him so that he can repent specifically.