Christ Church Stories
Nov. 3rd, 2008 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningI forgot to tell a story about my visit to Christ Church cathedral.
Whilst I was there, there was a rehearsal going on: a clergyman and two small boys. I think it was for a Christmas service, but I don’t know why.
The first boy was reading from the Bible into a microphone; from the beginning. “In the beginning was the word… and the word was good.”
He was being coached by the clergyman – my guess is that they were from the cathedral school, and he was going to be leading the service. He picked up the boy, who must have been nine or ten years old, on every little point: every phrase – “And! More emphatic! And the word was good…!”
He took apart every syllable until it barely made sense.
The other boy had an easier job. He had to read from a modern children’s story: he told about a little boy who dropped a crisp packet in the street, and was picked up by his teacher.
Well, something like that, anyway.
These stories were read out as I wandered around, taking photographs. I wanted to tell the first kid that I thought he was doing fine, that he didn’t need to pay heed to the clergyman. But I didn’t.
Edit: as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chickenfeet2003 points out, I got my biblical quotation completely wrong. It was several lines from, I think, Genesis, not John. But that wasn't the point: the point was that the man coaching the reader was quibbling over the specific stress of the word "And!"...
Whilst I was there, there was a rehearsal going on: a clergyman and two small boys. I think it was for a Christmas service, but I don’t know why.
The first boy was reading from the Bible into a microphone; from the beginning. “In the beginning was the word… and the word was good.”
He was being coached by the clergyman – my guess is that they were from the cathedral school, and he was going to be leading the service. He picked up the boy, who must have been nine or ten years old, on every little point: every phrase – “And! More emphatic! And the word was good…!”
He took apart every syllable until it barely made sense.
The other boy had an easier job. He had to read from a modern children’s story: he told about a little boy who dropped a crisp packet in the street, and was picked up by his teacher.
“What would happen if everybody dropped the crisp packets in the street?” she asked.
The boy didn’t know.
“They’d pile up and up and up! What would happen then?”
The boy didn’t know.
“We’d be overwhelmed by crisp packets!”
The boy hung his head; the teacher thought it was in shame.
But actually he was calculating how many crisp packets would be needed to bury the whole of [Swindon/Didcot/Slough/wherever] to a depth of three feet…
Well, something like that, anyway.
These stories were read out as I wandered around, taking photographs. I wanted to tell the first kid that I thought he was doing fine, that he didn’t need to pay heed to the clergyman. But I didn’t.
Edit: as
chickenfeet2003 points out, I got my biblical quotation completely wrong. It was several lines from, I think, Genesis, not John. But that wasn't the point: the point was that the man coaching the reader was quibbling over the specific stress of the word "And!"...