Day 35 - In Front of God and Everybody

My advice is, if you work in a church, never, let's spell it out, E - V- E- R "take on" something for Lent instead of "giving up" something for Lent.  Extra responsibilities of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter will drown you.  Between increasing services, practice sessions, and rehearsals, you will utterly regret ever "taking on" a discipline.  Stress will creep into your spiritual practice.

Having carefully counted the 40 days - 46 between Ash Wednesday and Easter with 6 Sundays off, I was shocked to hear the priest say during the parish announcments, that "Triduum" - Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Holy Week - is "not part of Lent."  WTF?  My blog is called 40 Days of Yoga.  Am I supposed to change it to "37 Days of Yoga"? 

The parish announcements went on - a rummage sale, a car wash - all the while I'm recounting on my fingers different ways to subtract three come up with 40.  By my estimation the priest is simply WRONG.  Now the priest is talking about the parish budget shortfall.  It's substantial.  The numbers are not good.  The priest gets to the end of the announcements and asks if anyone in the congregation has other information to share. 

I get off the organ bench and take the microphone, in front of God and Everybody. 

"I have just done a little calculating on my own - not about the church budget, but about the church calendar.  I want you all to know, there really isn't any way 40 days of Lent can end before Easter Vigil at sunset, even though I would be eternally grateful if they would because I've been doing 40 Days of Yoga.  Oh, You didn't know that?  Well, I'm sure you'd all like to hear more about it, so take the visitor's card out of your pew rack and pick up the little pencil next to the hymnal.  Write down this URL:  
http://www.40daysofyoga2011.blogspot.com/.  You can read all about my blog, and even, in the words of our Lord and Savior, "Follow Me!"  

I could see two lady ushers nodding knowingly to themselves in the back row.  They clearly understood my topic and my passion.   I testified a little more about yoga, India, exercise and all of the healing benefits available for everyone - what a difference it has made in my life and how they should take up yoga rather than watching American Idol.  Around this time two lady ushers emerged from the sacristy with a first aid box. 

When I woke up I was coughing and sputtering.  The usher ladies were putting away a little bottle of smelling salts.

I stood up, brushed myself off, walked over to the organ and played the offertory hymn.