It’s Sunday morning and the faithful are gathered. Over on one side of the platform the hand bells are set up. The other half of the music for the morning is the folk ensemble. The scripture for today is John 11:1-53 (the raising of Lazarus from the dead). At the end of the folk ensemble doing a song titled “Lazarus Come Forth,” I whisper to Cindy, “That had a little bit of a Prairie Home Companion sound to it.” “It made me think of the Gaithers,” she replies. I quickly suppress a sudden wave of nausea.

Part of the description for the time of open worship following the sermon is, “give God your full attention to see what he wants to say to you.” My full attention? I guess that would mean that I don’t get to wonder if my daughter slept through her alarm and is still in bed in her dorm room.