Sometimes, I think God has a great sense of humour. There are times that things go wrong at the worst possible moment like Murphy’s Law.
Last Saturday, the Bishop came to celebrate mass. I had seen the lectionary missing from the lectern but I was telling myself that probably, if it is the Bishop, maybe they use different style. I was guessing that a priest will appear and bring the lectionary or something.
So, I sat down and didn’t think too much about it. And the commentator started announcing before the altar servers arrived as they were probably held up in their classes. Once the commentator had started, the OHP and the organist too have to be ready.
Being part of the OHP (multimedia) ministry, I know how stressful it is when the commentator started without the green light from the organist, cantors and OHP handler because our slides may not be ready (due to last minute changes by priests etc) . So, imagine the Bishop alone, minus the altar servers until one ran all the way from the sacristy to where the Bishop was. And the first lector didn’t turn up while the second reader probably thought (like me) if it is the Bishop, maybe it is something different.
Between the opening hymn and the etc etc, I ran to the back to find out who is the first lector. Then, someone appeared to go up for the reading. That’s when she found that there is no lectionary for her to read. Oh, before that, she also have to bring the Gospel (is that what they call the Bible used by the Bishop?) to the altar after the Bishop was seated.
My lector chief quickly brought the green book for her while an altar server went to find the lectionary. Again, I ran to the back to tell the altar server the lectionary is missing. Though I know the first lector can read from the green book, it is proper to place the lectionary at its place on the lectern.
In the end, it was the most chaotic moment because things seemed to go wonky at the same time. So far, our mass was never this messy and it have to be that disorganised on a day when the Bishop comes by. I guess it is the Lord’s intervention that we have to be a bit messy so that the Bishop still remembers we are all humans and not super robots who animated masses without a single hitch.
The funny thing is the lector who didn’t turn up really forgot his duty. He was apologizing profusely that he forgot eventhough he has never ever done that before. Being a very senior lector, I know it is really not his fault. Of course, I told him it is just a minor thing and he doesn’t need to tell me because I am merely organizing the roster and other paper works for the lector’s ministry. Still, I think he must feel pretty bad because it has to happen on a day when the blue moon appears. Hehehe.
Anyway, I am glad that I do not hold any chief post because it must be pretty hard to maintain standard and at the same time, accept our human’s shortcomings. On one hand you want to maintain standard and yet, you know it is not easy to do that in a church settings without people feeling pissed. But at the end, if the top people complain, then, the chief still have to swallow them all. So may the good Lord blesses all of us that we don’t go wonky at the worst possible moment. I cannot imagine getting stressed up over things like last week. Moral of the story, next time I must be more proactive and not sit down and think, “Aha, maybe the Bishop does things differently? Maybe he can reads the Bible without one?”
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