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9:53 a.m. - 2005-03-27
A celebration of life renewed

Happy Easter

I go to the lazy womans church. I lollygag in bed on Sunday morning and listen to Christian radio, then having gotten all the religion I need for the morning, I am ready for the week ahead. This morning, I wore my special Easter PJ's with my Easter PJ bonnet. I must have looked like a fool wearing a bonnet to bed, but since no one saw me, no one knows.

One thing about getting your churching in bed on a Sunday morning is you can doze off to sleep during a boring sermon and you don't have to touch all those strange people by the forcible "passing of the peace" that nearly every church has adopted. The Passing of the Peace has always been an uncomfortable thing for me. It requires you to actually interact with people, put on a phony smile and shake the hand of the guy who just had a sneezing or coughing fit without the benefit of a hanky. I am always glad when the passing of the peace is over.

One drawback to attending services while lollygagging in the sack though is no singing. I love hymns and in church they even encourage people who can't carry a tune to sing.

Seriously though. Attending church has always been something I plan to do but the anxiety over walking in the door of a place where I am the only stranger, to be looked at, smiled at and greeted and talked to would be enough to send my little heart into fribulation. I am always afraid I am going to pass out in a crowd, especially if I think someone is looking at me.

I am a Christian though and not morally bankrupt. My life is very spiritually filled. As a matter of fact, you could say that AA is like church. We discuss our relationship with our higer power (GOD), support each other and pray together. Of this I am a regular attendee. I have even taken the extra step of becoming my home groups representative in our region. For some reason, I never have trouble walking into a new AA meeting where I am the only person I know. Maybe it is because all of us drunks are alike. We are like body parts of one creature. We understand each other from the inside out. I have more in common with an ex-drunk on our first meeting than I do with my own family.

My mother died when we were in West Virginia at a family wedding. While planning her funeral, the whole family was confined together in our greif, staying in the same home while planning, executing and attending a funeral. The house was full of bouncing children and crying babies. I needed to get away....the corner bar was NOT an option. I went to a strange AA meeting in an unfamiliar town.

I walked into this meeting, held at a church of course, and was greeted by about 100 of my own. We recognized each other immediately. I felt like I belonged. After the meeting about 10 people lined up to give me a hug. Hugging is something that also causes me anxiety...but for some strange reason, I don't mind being hugged by a fellow AA.

I'll share with you a little joke that goes around AA. The definition of Alcoholism is: "A disease caused by Catholisism that is cured in the basement of Lutheran churces." This stems from so many AA's coming from a Catholic background, however I am here to attest.....I am not Catholic and I have indeed been afflicted with the disease, or as I like to refer to it "a personality disorder". I will also attest that although it is "relieved, not cured" in the basements of many many Lutheran Churches, it is also relieved in the basements and fellowship halls of Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist and Catholic churches as well.

So Happy Easter everyone as we head into the celebration of spring and the rebirth of life and The One who has proven that Life does not end but will go on forever and ever....Amen!

P. I. Yarnsmith

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