I'm still processing a social encounter from church this morning. I
walked in and shook someone's hand, asking him how he was doing. Later,
we had the passing of the peace, and I asked this same gentleman how he
was doing. He replied, "The same as I was when you asked me two
minutes ago!" I responded, "My social repertoire..." I was about to
say that it was limited. Before I could get all that out, he retorted,
"I know," then proceeded to shake other people's hands.
I
probably should vary my social repertoire a bit. I could ask a person
how he's doing when I first see him, then later say that it's good to
see him, or something like that. I doubt that I've utterly alienated
this gentleman from me, since he's a nice person, and I've had my share
of social flub-ups with him in the past. He's thought that he's made
social flub-ups with me, come to think of it.
The pastor emeritus
was conducting the service this morning, since the pastor and his wife
are away on vacation. The pastor emeritus will be conducting the
service next week, as well. I was paying particular attention to the
service this morning because, next week, I'll be doing the liturgy, and I
wanted to see how the liturgy is done this week so that I'd know how I
should do the liturgy next week. The pastor emeritus usually organizes
the service differently from the pastor. I took notes on what the
liturgist did today (i.e., what parts of the program he read), and,
after the service, I told the pastor emeritus that I'll just do what the
liturgist did today. I asked him if that was all right, and he
responded, "Oh, I don't know." I guess I'll just go with my plan, then!