Judge me if you will. That's right, I play Bingo at church sometimes.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Mormon church, you probably need some background as to when and why I do what I do. The first Sunday of every month is called Fast Sunday, where members of the church go without food or drink for 24 hours. You might say "WHY, that's crazy!" Well, we do it for two purposes: 1) fasting allows us to focus more on the spiritual aspects of life. Fasting for no reason at all is called starving yourself... Fasting for a purpose brings you closer to God and coupled with prayer, the ability to overcome weaknesses or obtain guidance in life. 2) Fast Offerings: the money that we would have spent during those meals is donated (called fast offerings) to help those that are less fortunate. In all, it is a day where we turn the focus from our physical needs to our most spiritual-and outward towards others.
Fast Sunday is also unique, because during sacrament services members of the congregation are able (if they want) to share their testimony with others, we call this Testimony Meeting. When someone chooses to bare their testimony in church it should be focused on the basic doctrines they have found for themselves to be true. Namely, God is our father, he exists and has a plan for us; Jesus Christ is his son, our Savior and that only through him can we return to God. However, things are rarely as perfectly as they appear on paper. Thus, topics and people sometimes go awry.
Now at this point you may judge me for my Bingo playing. But here is my justification: I actually pay closer attention! We (yes I'm not the only player!) have 2 boxes each... one we create with the names of people we think will get up that month to bare their testimony. In order to MAKE these charts every month I have to first, know people's names and second, know what is going on in their lives. See, by default I become more aware of others. The other is based on topics we think people will focus on, it ranges from sincere topics such as faith, prayer, family or scriptures....to "recently returned from a trip" or "shout out to (fill in the blank)".
As you can see I'm much better at topics than people. However, I should have gone with my gut instinct on the people and I would have won... oh well, there's always next month. :)
10 comments:
I won't judge if I can play too
Maybe this is why I get nervous about bearing my testimony in sacrament meeting. And maybe waiting for Relief Society isn't as safe as I think it is!! :) jk
Julie! No, no! I'll put you down for next month--don't disappoint. ;)
I've been trying really hard to figure out whose initials you put. I think I figured out three of them, you'll have to let me know if I'm right.
Mel, only you would come up with something so ingenious! You have given me a whole new reason to stay in Fast and Testimony meeting and not use my disruptive children as an excuse to escape the drama and wander the halls!
Ha ha. I totally used to do that!!!
That is hilarious!!!! (Also, I don't walk on grates either. I too am terrified of falling in!)
We play tstimony baseball. We pick four words and asign a value to them. Single double triple homerun. Each person picks their own words. Each testimony is either a hit or an out. Pretty fun. Keeps my husband awake.
With your new Bingo skills you'll be welcome on any Wednesday or Friday night in any Catholic church in the land. But you'd better be careful my friend...Bingo has been known to lead to Yahtzee for money, which we all know can lead to playing Monopoly for real bucks. Before you know it you'll be shooting craps on Indian reservations ever other weekend.
Chet-A-Ham
PS Just curious...did your nickname "Melf" originate from a certain Photoshopped image of you a number of years ago?
I'm so in on this now. Can't wait!
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