Christmas Eve at church

“Knees on kneeler, butt on seat.”

This was a vital lesson Suzi taught me the first time I went to Christmas Eve services with her parents, since I’m not Catholic and rarely went to church.

My knees continue to thank her to this day.

As long as they’re not using it to harm other people, I have no issue with people being religious or whatever religion they follow, but it’s not part of my life.

I’m not a particularly religious person.

As long as they’re not using it to harm other people, I have no issue with people being religious or whatever religion they follow, but it’s not part of my life.

There were three churches in the town where I grew up, and my brother and I went to Sunday school at all three of them at one time or another.

But we never went to church at any of them, and we never stayed terribly long. I’ve always told people I’m “nominally Protestant” because it came up at something I was doing as a kid so I asked my mother, and she said we were Protestant.

Suzi and her family are Catholic, and we had a Catholic wedding. It wasn’t an issue for me, and while my Catholic friends told me the pre-wedding counseling would be scary, it really wasn’t.

All you need to know is that the counseling was led by a woman known as “the funny nun,” and the only discussion of religion was in the last 15 minutes, and all she said was that we should have some.

Oh well …

The only two homilies I remember are the one in Hyannis where the priest complained about not being able to put a Nativity scene at the local mall, and in Kittery, where the priest talked about how in God’s eyes, we’re all the same.

In all the years I’ve gone with Suzi and her parents, I don’t remember too much about the services.

The only two homilies I remember are the one in Hyannis where the priest complained about not being able to put a Nativity scene at the local mall, and in Kittery, where the priest talked about how in God’s eyes, we’re all the same.

I don’t really do much during the services. I stand when I’m supposed to stand, sit when I’m supposed to sit and kneel — or at least put my knees on the kneeler while sitting otherwise — when I’m supposed to kneel.

And since I’m not Catholic, I don’t take Communion. I just wait for everyone else to finish.

But during a hectic Christmas season, it’s an hour (give or take) that’s calm, that’s quiet, that’s relaxing. Where you just take it all in.

And even for someone who’s not religious, there’s something to be said for that.

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