“No tone.”
“No facial expression.”
My 12 years old is quite the comical chap who can mimic things he watched on TV. Today, he tagged along to church with me and made me bursting with laughter. But it being a church and with all the serious looking parishioners and the priests nearby, I had to hold back the laughter. He was mimicking Mr. Bean’s voice from one of the Mr. Bean’s comedy in church.
And the above two comments are from my boy. He complained the Gospel was too long and too boring. Indeed, today, being Bible Sunday, the Gospel is extra long and hence, the boy was getting impatient. He refused to join the children liturgy and so he keeps bugging me with funny jokes during homily.
When he got home, he suggested to me that priests shouldn’t just read the Gospel but instead, animated it. He told me the two younger priests (we have three priests in our Cathedral) should dressed up in hip-hop style, Afro hair, with a huge cross and steel chains and go something like, ‘Yo yo yo, my braders and sistas, yo listen to this Holy Gospel according to Matthew…Yo….Jesus went to the beach…’ and then, he even showed how their hands should flail, complete with head shaking. He insisted the two priests will be perfect for the role because one of them is bald and the other, he said can perm Afro style.
Come to think of it, he does have some valid suggestions. However, we are the Catholic church and if anyone dares to do that, I think it will make our Bishop hyperventilating and when it reaches the Pope’s ears………… .. Oh well…I dare not even think of it. So, yeah, forget it, son. We are Catholics, remember?
Anyway, praise the Lord, my boy is showing some interests in the church now. Previously, it was hard to get him to follow me to church because he simply hates boring church and yet, he refused to blend in with the children from liturgy. I guess it is the middle child syndrome where they think they are much older than they really are and they find it hard to mix with children their age.
Now, he joins the youth group which is meant for 13 years old and above. However, the coordinator kindly allowed him to tag along with my second son. He is learning the guitar and he knows one song now. ‘My life is in you’. We had so much fun just now because he was practising the guitar, and he asked me to sing the parts. I was staring blankly at him because I cannot catch the note to enter and he laughed at me so hard. He told me, “Ma, if you are the cantor, they will kick you out. People finished their music already and you are still staring open-mouth.”
Such are the ways I try to get my children to be interested in being part of the church and staying close to the faith. Through jokes, funny stories and we take everything with some imagination and crazy ideas. Otherwise, church can be really boring and dreary for older children and young adults.
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