A short summary of Aunthood

I am a sucker for church rituals. Sometimes to a fault. 

I envy other religions/denominations.  I covet their rituals.  

 Communion. Ash Wednesday.  Baptisms.  I'm there.  Give me a good baby dedication any day and I may  bawl tears of joy through the majority of it.  

For me, rituals are a way of making the life of Jesus tangible.  

In teaching, when you are covering the subject of apples, you bring in apples.  You taste apples.  You make graphs about apples.  You draw apple trees and write apple poems.  

I think Communion was Jesus' way of bringing the apples.  

Sometimes, I find myself in church just needing Something Very Important to happen.  Comfort.  Patience.  An Outpouring of Peace.  

One Midnight Christmas Eve Service, I found myself sinking Very Deeply into the seats.  It was something reminiscent of Flat Stanley.  

And I prayed.  I prayed that I would be able to end  the coming year a kinder, gentler version of myself.  

And Aunthood has done that.  It has done that to us all.  

Thanks be to Lucy.