The Day I Left The Pastor Standing In The Baptismal

The Pioneer Woman has an entire section of her website called, The Humiliation Chronicles. I have wept with laughter as I have read her shameless tales of self-deprecation. Who doesn’t love someone who can laugh at themselves?

On that note…

January, 11, 2015 will forever be remembered by me as Scotlyn’s 6-month birthday . . . and the day I left the pastor standing in the baptismal.

Yes, my friends, on just my second Sunday on the job I managed to do something to humiliate myself and put someone else in an awkward position.

Please keep in mind that I have been to this lovely church a total of TWO times, including last week. The first week I did my best to not speak or do anything but sing in order to not step on any toes and to ensure that things went smoothly. My goal for the second week was to do my best to engage the congregation (this was at the pastor’s request). I wanted to be bold, fearless in my endeavor to lead the congregation in praise (ok, so that’s a bit of an overstatement…).

Someone was going to be baptized and the service was going to be broken up a bit differently than the week before, so ensure that things would flow smoothly, I hunted down the order of service and studied it carefully.

Convinced I understood it correctly, I began playing and singing. I thought the associate pastor was going to be coming up after the first song to do announcements like he had the week prior, but when he didn’t, I, the seasoned, “go with it” professional I am, just kept on playing. Before I started into the second song (or third, I can’t remember), the congregation suddenly sat down. I remembered what the pastor had told me about being sure to let them know when to stand up and sit down, so I said, “don’t sit down just yet!” or something to that effect. Everyone stood back up and I continued playing.

The associate pastor came up after that song and then the wee little man was baptized and we continued on with the service. I was completely oblivious to the fact that it was I, yes, I who messed up. Apparently, the pastor had shown up in the baptismal behind me and began talking to everyone, which is why the congregation sat down. I did not have his voice in my monitor so I was clueless, interrupted him, and made everyone stand up and sing. Erik says he stood in the water for a while, singing along, then gave up and got out of the water to wait until I was done.

*face palm* is about all I could and still can say about it. I feel terrible, but what can I do about it now? Besides be even more careful next time. I’m still trying to figure out how that happened . . .

Fortunately, the pastor did not seem angered by it and he didn’t even mention it after the service (bless him for considering my feelings over his own).

Dear friends pray for me. I apparently need it. 😉

Hope you enjoyed this chronicle of my humiliation. I do have a few other tales I can tell . . . and have already told on this blog in years past. Maybe I should dedicate a section of my blog to humiliation tales, too. Thank you, Pioneer Woman, for the inspiration and for encouraging us all to laugh at ourselves.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

2 Comments. Leave new

  • Transparency is good, Stephanie, and you are obviously working with an incredible group of leaders. I think the date should read 2015, instead of 2014. Not to embarrass you, but to get it straight when you look back on this historical moment and can really laugh heartily.

    Reply
  • I was the one getting baptized. 🙂

    Reply

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