If We Could Take Pictures In Church

Things I would have photographed this Sunday if I could take pictures in church:

– Far down the hallway, pastor leaned his face very close to the man in the wheelchair who can’t talk very well, and put his hand on his shoulder. The man spoke as well as he could and with great effort, weaving back and forth and waving his arms. Pastor spoke back, and smiled. Their faces were mirrors of love and affection.

– My friend three pews up and one section to the right stood with her eyes closed and both arms reaching upward in the way we do at church, singing her heart out: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow….” She is eighty and was just diagnosed with dementia.

– A old woman sat alone in the fellowship hall and a man passing by told her the bright turquoise scarf and matching blouse and earrings she wore were beautiful. She looked up and smiled and her eyes glowed like sudden candles in a dark sanctuary.

– A little girl held the specially-designed communion-wine-squirt-bottle with both hands, carefully squeezing wine into the tiny cups. Her face looked as if it had been taken from one of God’s angels on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.