Joys and Concerns

I’ve been taking my mom to church on Sundays because she likes to sing the hymns, and it has brought back lots of childhood memories of singing in the the choir at St. Paul’s Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.

The Congregational Church in South Deerfield is one of those beautiful historic structures, and I can imagine it packed with sturdy yeoman farmer families back in the 1700s.

It’s not too packed now, of course. We never have any trouble finding a vacant pew.

Though small, the congregation is happy and welcoming, and one can tell there is a strong bond of community among them that goes back many years.

During the service, there’s a time for people to share their joys and concerns. Last week a woman stood up and said her daughter had just celebrated her fifteenth birthday, which, she said, is “both a joy and a concern.”