I got “called on the carpet” at church tonight. Last Friday it seemed to me there were too many people up on stage trying to pick out worship songs, and not enough people in the pews praying, so I decided this week I’d hang back and pray instead.
Over the course of the week I apparently forgot the why and just remembered I wanted to hang back. I got there a few minutes late anyway, and just slipped into a back pew and made myself as comfortable as possible. I got a few looks from people that were obviously trying to figure out what I was doing sitting down there in stead of going up on stage, but I just smiled and nodded at them and stayed put.
After a couple more songs the pastor looked back, noticed that I was taking a drink out of my water bottle and said, “I see Tammy’s back there drinking on the job”. Doh! I managed to keep from spewing my water everywhere… My first reaction was to muse at how clever he had been, then I got just a little offended. When I thought about it a bit more, though, I realized he had been exactly right, probably without intending to be.
I remembered then that my intention had been to sit in the back and cover the service in prayer instead of singing… and instead I was doing neither. So while everyone wondered why I didn’t take the cue to come up on stage, after such obvious prodding, I sat back and started praying fervently…
After a while someone all but ordered me up there, so I did go up and sing a song or two, then settled back to praying. The resulting service was much better, I think, jesting aside, so I think I’ll make a regular habit of staying back to pray. I suppose I should talk to the pastor about it before the next service, though :P
