Serve and Soothe Your Companions

“And so, friends, if you want to lay a decent foundation, strive to be the least among you. Offer yourself as a slave to God and try to find ways to serve and soothe your companions.” Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle (1577)

Examples of what Teresa writes about can be found in everyday life, and I have a good example of the writing today from something that happened this morning.

Brad and I were late for church today because of a cup of coffee I just had to drink before we left the house. He was suspicious about the coffee—he thought it would make us late, I think—but he let it go the way good spouses in a long marriage often do. In fact, he drank a cup of coffee along with me and he didn’t pester me about it on the way to church either.

We were just barely late by the clock—8:32—but we felt very late because the church bulletins were all gone and we couldn’t find a place to sit in the Sanctuary. The third Sunday in December is our special music Sunday which means there is special music even before the service starts. Most parishioners remembered about the special music, but I didn’t…You know what I was thinking about (coffee).

Then a wonderful thing happened, something I didn’t deserve. “Let’s go to the balcony,” I whispered to Brad, and we headed up there. Our church is being remodeled and I hadn’t been up to the balcony in a long time. Were we ever in for some surprises. First of all, the new organ has completely overtaken the balcony and instead of room for sixty people the way it used to be there are only two rows with a total of eight chairs to sit on now. Of the eight chairs, five were already taken by a family of four (second row) and an elderly man with a camera (front row). I sat next to the elderly man and Brad sat next to me with one chair to spare.

“Do you want a bulletin?” the man behind us asked. “Yes, thanks, they are all gone,” I said. He and his wife nodded because they already knew. They shared one of their bulletins with us, and we settled into the service.

The seven of us ended up being quite a lovely worshipping community up there in the balcony, and I appreciated it very much. The elderly man was from out of town, there to hear his daughter play the organ and direct the choirs. “The organist is your daughter? I think she’s wonderful,” I told him. “She always was wonderful, even as a little girl,” he replied. When it was time for the offering, Brad took ours out of his pocket, but the man behind us said the ushers don’t come up to the balcony anymore and then he sent one of his sons down with the balcony offering. At communion time, Brad and I followed their family downstairs and to the communion rail. I asked the elderly man if he was coming, too. “No, I’ll stay here…You go ahead,” he said. Afterwards Brad and I goodbye to everyone and commented how good the music sounded from the balcony and how welcomed we felt.

Jesus always encouraged his disciples to help each other, and Teresa offers the same advice. In The Interior Castle, she instructs us to “try to find ways to serve and soothe your companions.” Our balcony companions made our worship experience a delightful one today—they welcomed us, they shared their bulletins, they helped us with offering and communion—and I will remember their kindness for a long, long time.