Holy Week

I had just pulled in the parking lot for the one day sale at Family Foods last Friday when my cell phone rang. It was an AT&T telemarketer.

I was so taken aback, I actually listened to him for a few minutes as best I could, since he didn’t speak Southern. Meanwhile I was cursing whoever had given him my cell phone number.

But the gist of his call was he could save me $11 a month on my DSL line at the office; he just needed my permission. Yea, right, you’re need me to say it’s o.k. to reduce my bill. Really? How many people say, no, I want to pay to keep paying the higher amount.

I guess AT&T is concerned about competition, and wants to be sure Verizon or any other competitor doesn’t steal its customers. Maybe AT&T realizes that Verizon has pretty much sewn up the mobile service, because it has better coverage, in spite of what AT&T claims about covering 97 percent of America.

Anyway, the man started quoting figures that didn’t sound right, but I was having a hard time understanding him, so I told him to call me back next Thursday or Friday.

I was surprised when he responded, that next week is Holy Week. Well, I replied, I only go to service for an hour each day (which I don’t really make it every day). Then he mentioned Good Friday, and asked if I would be working. And, I said, I don’t know. About a minute later I decided no, I wouldn’t be.

The schools are on vacation all this week. Thursday and Friday are the slow days at the paper. And, being a small, family run business, it seems we have a hard time getting time off. So, I felt like it wouldn’t hurt business to close Friday, and decided that The Monticello News would be closed.

And, if Mr. AT&T calls me back today (assuming you’re reading this the day the paper comes out), I’m going to ask him when he can get DSL to my house before I entertain any “savings” he has to offer me. No, I’m not going to start complaining again about no DSL. A kind reader responded last time and told me Verizon wireless might be a good internet option, and I am going to look into it; I just haven’t yet.

But, I digress. This is Holy Week. And for a long time, Monticello First United Methodist church has offered Holy Week services every day this week at noon. They’re really great services, you get music and a message in about 30 minutes, then they feed you “a light lunch” (for free) and you can return to work…or play or whatever.

I have found it to be a wonderful retreat to break away from the hustle-bustle of the workday and attend these services.

I didn’t make it Monday as the county commissioners didn’t end until right at noon. I could have run, but I hate walking in late, and I didn’t have a car uptown.

When I went Tuesday, I was a little surprised to see pretty much the same faces as I see each year. I think I only made it one time last year, but in the past have made it more. Almost everyone there is old. Including me.

My home church has lamented sometimes about how we don’t seem to be reaching the younger generation. I’ve seen statistics on the number of church-goers and their ages, and the younger generations do not attend anything like the older ones.

Some years spring break does not coincide with Holy Week, but this year it does. So, I figured some young folks would be there, maybe some teachers, older students, moms with school-age children (it’s only a half-hour service), but I was wrong.

Now, as many of you know, I go to church out of town, and Monticello Methodist is not my home church. I don’t know what ages are represented on Sunday morning. I’m thinking it may be like my home church lots of old and young, and few in-between. The crowd there Tuesday included several who regularly attend other churches.

I invited Jason Parr to come with me to Holy Week services one day, and he said every week is Holy Week, and he didn’t agree with special services one week out of the year. I told him that we can worship God every day, every where, but the service is nice, for a change.

And, I know everyone is not Christian, and everyone can’t get off work from noon to one to attend a service. But, if you’re thinking about it, come on. Everyone is welcome—old and young, black and white. There was food for half again as many as were there Tuesday.

Every week is Holy Week, but if life sometimes gets in the way of your worshipping, like it does mine, come on out to church at noon today or tomorrow.