 |
| seen at a quilt show, name of quilter sadly forgotten photo by Wayne Stratz |
I have few clear memories of my early years and two that I have, my mom told me never happened. It must have been in dreams that I fell down stairs and that I got off the school bus a stop or two early. My childhood is a bit fuzzy, so I may be wrong on this, but I don't think the Bible was read much in my home. I do remember a Bible, the cover was white. I don't know what the translation was. I do remember a picture book of Bible stories, but again the memory is fuzzy.
We went to St John's Evangelical Lutheran church in Bath, PA. This I know. We sat on the right hand side, a few pews from the front. My grandmother sat in the back row with lady friends. Pappy did not come to the church. I know I learned the classic Bible stories in Sunday School. Went through a confirmation class during the 1970's. The Bible was not a huge part of my life outside of Sunday mornings. But when I returned to it in my 30's. It was familiar.
I remember things now, maybe because of repetition. The end of the service was a hymn. When it was over we would stand in silence as the organist played the tune one more time. I would compose lyrics in my head. After church we would drive a short distance to my grandma's house where Pappy would finish meals with a slice of bread smothered with apple butter. After lunch Mamie would bring out the quilts she was working on that week. I can still see Pappy enjoying good food, and Mamie flinging her quilts out into the air for us to see.
It was a Luthern church that my parents would send my younger brother, sister, and I each week for Sunday school. We walked the five blocks or so by ourselves and, occasionally, would attend the main services with my mother and grandmother. The words to the hymn "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" with which they opened the Sunday school are yet in my memory, as well as others used every week in that main service. I took catechism classes there at the age of twelve, was given communion, and then we, as a family, moved to the suburbs and that was that. Funny, though, how so much almost subconsciously sits in your mind and calls to you to "come home"....
ReplyDelete