What is it about tables and table clothes drapping over them that gets children so excited? I can remember as child spending hours under the dinning room table, pretending it was my house then a castle and allowing my imagination to run wild. Later when I had Karl I can remember on many occasions putting a table cloth or sheet over the dinning room table so that, he too, could have his adventures. Well on Sunday the story for the Family Service was all about Abram and so David and I put a few tables along the floor and covered them in a cover and asked the children to pretend that it was a tent - no problem :)
Then today I was the guest speaker at St. Margaret's Womens Fellowship/Mother's Union 'At Home' service. WOW what a wonderful afternoon - especially in such majestic surroundings as St. Margaret's which is nearly 1000 years old. To talk from the pulpit where so many, many parish priests have preached and prayed in the hundreds of years before me was quite a humbling thought and experience (thankfully there were no bones of any prior speakers in the pulpit either!).
But the touching experience today, for me, was Rose. Rose's husband died about four weeks ago and the funeral was held at St. Margaret's church. I phoned this morning, knowing that her family had now gone, and asked if she would like to come with meto the service - she readily accepted the offer. I felt slight apprenhensive because I was the guest speaker so would be sitting at the front of the church - I went with the intention of finding a suitable lady for Rose to sit with (Rose attends another church so wasn't too sure if she would know anyone). Well what a fool I am - Rose took everything in her stride, she spoke to all the ladies as though she was organizer of the event, found some long lost friends and sat with them and then afterwards found some more friends and had tea with them. So I needn't have worried. On the way home, I asked if she had enjoyed the afternoon - she assured me she had because she had met so many ladies that she hadn't seen in long while and was able to catch up with all the news. The sad reminder as I dropped her off at her house was that she didn't have John waiting at home to share her news with. My plea to you if you are reading this is if you now someone on their own especially if they have been bereaved- go and say hello, invite them in for a cuppa or even take them out for a cuppa - it could be you one day!
Joyce (Womens Fellowship Leader) standing in front of the beautifully decorated screen at St. Margarets