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A Sad-Happy Service
Jul. 29th, 2008 09:06 amKip and I went to the candlelight gathering last night.
It was a really great service. We couldn't use our church since the sanctuary is still a crime scene, but the 2nd Presbyterian church next door offered their church. People came from all over. Kip and I were a bit late, because we had to park so far from the church, and just as we were arriving the skies opened up and it *poured* so we lingered in the car a few minutes, hoping the rain would let up. Eventually we got out and slogged to the church, under an umbrella that Kip happened to have in the car that was, well, inadequate for two in that kind of weather. By the time we got to the church I was as wet as if I'd fallen in the lake (except that I wouldn't have fallen in the lake wearing a skirt), and Kip had one dry spot, under his tie.
So many people came that we ended up in the little entrance room, and it was standing room only back there. We could hear the service just fine, but couldn't see anything. But it sounded like most churches in the area had sent representatives, "putting doctrinal differences aside to man the parapets" as Kip put it.
Aside from that, there are 2 things I most remember from the service. The first is that the person giving the service (not our usual minister) said that a reporter had asked him if he thought the shooter was going to hell. There was some (bitter?) laughter at this, because UUs mostly don't believe in Hell. He said he told the reporter he thought the shooter had been living in hell here on earth for some time. (Which was just what I happened to be thinking at the time, so it particularly resonated with me.)
The second thing is that they finished the service by having the UU kids choir sing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" from _Annie_. I read in the paper that the kids were performing songs from _Annie_ when the shooter attacked, so that just seemed so very appropriate. Plus providing recognition and catharsis for the kids, it's a very appropriate song for the themes of healing that the previous speaker had been exploring. Everybody in the entrance room held their candles high for that.
Then we went home, bought tatertots and ice cream for comfort food, and began to work on solving our internet access problem. Which I now have half-solved, except that the airport now dials our ISP repeatedly, even when I tell it not to. Sigh. But there's a software update that may solve that if I can figure out how to download it without funneling it through a phone line.
It was a really great service. We couldn't use our church since the sanctuary is still a crime scene, but the 2nd Presbyterian church next door offered their church. People came from all over. Kip and I were a bit late, because we had to park so far from the church, and just as we were arriving the skies opened up and it *poured* so we lingered in the car a few minutes, hoping the rain would let up. Eventually we got out and slogged to the church, under an umbrella that Kip happened to have in the car that was, well, inadequate for two in that kind of weather. By the time we got to the church I was as wet as if I'd fallen in the lake (except that I wouldn't have fallen in the lake wearing a skirt), and Kip had one dry spot, under his tie.
So many people came that we ended up in the little entrance room, and it was standing room only back there. We could hear the service just fine, but couldn't see anything. But it sounded like most churches in the area had sent representatives, "putting doctrinal differences aside to man the parapets" as Kip put it.
Aside from that, there are 2 things I most remember from the service. The first is that the person giving the service (not our usual minister) said that a reporter had asked him if he thought the shooter was going to hell. There was some (bitter?) laughter at this, because UUs mostly don't believe in Hell. He said he told the reporter he thought the shooter had been living in hell here on earth for some time. (Which was just what I happened to be thinking at the time, so it particularly resonated with me.)
The second thing is that they finished the service by having the UU kids choir sing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" from _Annie_. I read in the paper that the kids were performing songs from _Annie_ when the shooter attacked, so that just seemed so very appropriate. Plus providing recognition and catharsis for the kids, it's a very appropriate song for the themes of healing that the previous speaker had been exploring. Everybody in the entrance room held their candles high for that.
Then we went home, bought tatertots and ice cream for comfort food, and began to work on solving our internet access problem. Which I now have half-solved, except that the airport now dials our ISP repeatedly, even when I tell it not to. Sigh. But there's a software update that may solve that if I can figure out how to download it without funneling it through a phone line.
