What's the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you in church?
I have the obvious (but still funny) children stories: screaming for me (or Daddy) if one of us in on the stand for some reason; the yelling "AMEN" in the middle of an extra-long closing prayer; the smacking of lips after taking the sacrament; the loud demanding of more bread (or water) in the middle of the very quiet chapel...you know the list. You could probably add to it...feel free in the comments.
Then there are the slightly less common type: For example, when I was child a young man was reporting on his mission. He stood up at the pulpit, looked over everyone, and slowly turned a very pale shade of green. From where we were sitting, I could see the sweat break out across his forehead. He didn't actually faint, but had to sit down quickly. A sister in the ward ran to the kitchen and brought him a drink of water while the bishop quickly stood up and gave a short, impromptu talk about missionary work. I seem to remember this RM trying again, whether that day or another week, with a similar result. I don't think we ever heard his talk, and I remember wondering how in the world he'd gotten through his mission with such a profound fear of public speaking. Poor kid.
Or the time that my brother, who usually prepared the sacrament table, was sick. It wasn't his turn to bring the bread or anything, and he assumed (bad idea) that the other teachers would take care of filling the cups and putting the bread out, etc. The ward before us had neglected to clean up their sacrament, and so the priests and the deacons looked at the neatly covered trays, and assumed David had taken care of it. It wasn't until the sacrament hymn started that the priests discovered that it was the other ward's leavings sitting under there. We sang every verse of the sacrament hymn and listened to the organist keep playing the same song over and over, as the Young Men's President and the Bishop scurried around with the priests, finding the bread and emptying the trays and filling the water...not an especially spiritual sacrament meeting, I'm afraid.
All of this is a preface to pointing you to one of the funniest posts in all Mormon blogging: Adventures in Arizona at Mormon Mommy Wars. In a 300+ comment thread, everyone in the "bloggernacle" (the Mormon blog community) shares their weirdest sacrament meeting moments. And there are some seriously, seriously hilarious ones. If you have an hour or two, and need a belly laugh, head over there. (Kristy, I mentioned your Tucson lady-with-the-dog, and two other random people commented they knew about her too!)
And what about you? Do you have any funny/horrifying/hilarious stories about sacrament meeting?
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Our's is a strange one. B was very young, H hadn't appeared in our family yet, so less then two. He was playing around and discovered that their are hymn books on the back of the pews. We were on the last row of the church and he leaned over to grab a book. He actually toppled over! Jeff was very fast and grabbed him, by one foot, literally an inch before he hit the floor head first. Of course, B started to scream hysterically and we all hustled out of the chaple to have parental hysterics while calming the toddler ones.
ReplyDeleteKeryn, I remember that incident with the return missionary but I didn't think he was scared of public speaking but ill. I don't know- maybe I was reading too much into it.
ReplyDeleteGood point, LaDale! I don't know, I don't even remember who it was...do you? Maybe Mema can remember. Regardless, it was one of my most memorable sacraments meetings, and all for the wrong reasons!
ReplyDeleteJenafer--hee hee hee. I can just picture your family in that pose, Jeff with B's foot, B dangling down head first...HA! That must have been a sight to see.
My other story happened recently. I sit on the stand through the sacrament because of the organ. I usually slide off the organ and sit in the pew during the passing because it is more comfortable with a place to rest my feet instead of having them dangling in thin air. The poor deacon passing was leaving after giving me the water and missed the step and fell full length on the stand, dumping the whole tray out over the bishopic.
ReplyDeleteOh, that poor deacon!
ReplyDelete