I think the only known picture of me actually preaching has now been posted on the Internet by yet another of my goofy congregants. Seriously, I think three or four of these people see it as their own personal calling to destroy whatever dignity is left of the pastoral office.
Of course, my antics are making that calling very easy.
So anyhow, what happened was I was preaching the morning after our church Halloween party. Yes, we do Halloween at Covenant, a thing that has led some sister churches in our area to suggest that we ought to drop the ant from Covenant and just admit that we are a bunch of pagans.
Now ever since I started taking medication for depression, I have had problems with a dry mouth. I have to keep water near me when I preach. Sunday I grabbed a paper cup - not looking at it - and sipped water from it during the sermon. At one point I noticed Michael Main taking a picture of me and smiling.
Only later did I realize that I had been drinking from a cup leftover from the party the night before. It was a black cup with bats and pumpkins on it. It's a little unusual to see that sort of thing from the pulpit; that's all I'm saying.
I'll tell you something else you don't see that often. Children playing with bones during the worship service. Right after Michael took the picture of me, I noticed he was snapping a picture of a little boy on the front row who had found a bone out in the woods and brought it into church with him. He was sitting on the floor pushing it around like it was a toy car or something. You can see that picture at Michael's site as well.
Nice. The pastor drinks from a Halloween cup and children are tossing bones around like we're the First Baptist Church of Samhain.
By the way, long time RLP readers might like to know that the little boy with the bone is none other than "Elliot" from the two stories I wrote about him long ago. He's in kindergarten now and is perhaps as loving and kind as any little boy I've ever known.
rlp
