The Sweet Sound of Sunday

I've been thinking about what our Sundays used to be like. They reminded me of stories of the really "old days" when you would go in the wagon some distance to church and then have lunch on the ground, fellowship and return at night. In our case, after the guys got into scouts we would drive an hour and a half  after church in Trenton to the Prayer Meeting. Our lunch would not be on the ground ( except for the Russian Pancake crumbs that did not make it into mouths and ended up on the van floor to be swept out ). Despite the complaints you might hear about Russian Pancakes, it was an easy to make, filling, nutritious entree that was often topped by applesauce. That is a combination that this Mom found hard to pass up.

When we got to Mount St. Michael's, the guys would go to scouts, and some part of the group would supervise the play of younger ones. I would work on taking a nap, usually in the van. Then we would enjoy visiting with community members, catch up with news of different families and have a great time. We would have a rousing prayer meeting, possibly a youth ministry meeting and then head home. Sometimes ( in good weather) this trip was broken up by a stop at a park for sandwiches. The fixens' had been cooling in the handy ice chest. However much of the time the handy ice chest was the table for putting together the turkey, bread, mayonnaise, lettuce etc. as we rolled down the road. You might wonder how all this food was wonderfully available on Sunday. It all depended on Saturday night going well (we called it Saturday Night Live). Maybe I will write about that sometime.

The trip home was notable in that a new element of noise was added. Since the baby was the only one strapped down, unless I was feeding him, family members were free to move around and generally provoke something to make the trip more interesting. The decibel level increase always seemed dependent on whether supper had been served and the blood sugar had started rising. However, in the midst of admonitions to stop this or that, a sweet sound would often be heard - singing. If my memory serves me right, the girls would often start singing a series of children's songs and most of us would join in on the rousing choruses. They knew a lot of songs from Sunday School, vacation bible schools, camp, prayer meeting, children's ministries, etc, etc. I mean this could go on for some time! I didn't know it then, but it sure made for some good memories!

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing."  Psalm 100: 1-2