The truth is that I am silent in the church, very silent. I am not one of those that leads in prayer, or sings a solo, or leads the children in the worship circle. I do not make announcements. I have been silent in the church my entire life.
In the Brethren no woman ever speaks. In the Plymouth Brethren no woman ever gave testimony, or prayed during prayer meeting, opened a hymn, (without any musical instrumetns this can be a crucial role) or even shushed their children audibly. Mothers sometimes carried little bags of candy, no, that was the lady who sat in the row behind us. Oops. Sometimes when we were kneeling in prayer, she would sneak me a candy. My mother never knew that.
However, there was one exception. This was the hiccup lady. She was an elderly single woman. She had a disorder that caused her to hiccup sometimes for 20 minutes without stopping. No one ever shushed her and she was not excommunicated. They knew she could not help it. For some reason God had sent her to show the assembly that woman can never be entirely silent in the church.
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2 comments:
This is a hilarious story. I think i'll link to it from my brethren blog. Care to share it on our Plymouth Brethren Discussion Forum
Hi Shawn,
I had a look at your forum especially the thread about excommunication. It was fascinating. Please share anything you see here.
I will eventually be adding new links to my page and would like to link to yours. It may not happen right away but I won't forget.
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