Surprises At Church
In addition to Yessa going to RE all on her own, which I discussed in a recent post, this last Sunday held several more moments of surprise for Buds and me.
During the Joys and Concerns sharing, a gentleman named Tom, whom we had never seen before, got up to share. He was obviously well-known in the congregation, and felt very comfortable up in the front.
He shared a delightful story of attending church on Christmas Eve in New York City.
Here’s what he said:
“I was at All Souls Church in NYC on Christmas Eve. If you’ve never been to All Souls, it’s a huge cathedral, and when you attend, you KNOW you’ve been to church.
It was Christmas Eve, and I wanted to be up front where I could see the minister’s face, so I made my way down to the front, and ended up sitting next to a lovely woman from Virginia.”
At this point, I started to get a little tingle of excitement.
“Her name was Mary Katherine.”
Now there were several gasps and laughs of recognition from the congregation because MK is well-remembered fondly by the GNUUC community.
“Mary Katherine asked where I was from, and I told her Nashville. She said she had lived in Nashville, too. Then she said, ‘I have sent the most wonderful family down to you all. Their name is Gemignani, and you’ll love them.'”
Tom continued, “I haven’t met them yet, but I’ve told this story to everyone I’ve talked to, and lots of you do know them, so I’m looking forward to meeting them, too.”
By this point, I’m gasping with giggles, hands on my cheeks, tears running down my very red cheeks, as our new congregational family is turning to look at Buds and me in our regular seat in the back row. We were surrounded by smiles and finally clapping. It was such a delicious hug from our beloved MK from across the miles.
But that wasn’t it for the Gemignani’s on this day.
Rev. Rachel told a lovely story of two little girls playing with Noah’s Ark, and their mom overheard them say, “Noa and her wife saved all the animals.”
Rachel talked about the joy in this story for so many reasons, and that we have a female Noa in our own congregation. So mention #2 for the Gems.
And finally, Rachel also talked about the wisdom of our children. Let’s be sure we aren’t just looking for the cuteness in what they say during the sharing time, but really hear the insight that they share.
“Last weekend, Zoe gave the best definition of prayer I have heard for a long time…Did you hear what she said?” Rachel asked.
This story isn’t intended as a “The Gems are so awesome,” even though that is what is sounds like. I’m writing it up as a reminder to the future me of the beginning of becoming family with GNUUC. We so love/d UUCF, thinking we could find another church home that truly felt like home seemed like folly, but we seem to be moving in the right direction.
