[Magdalen] it's that time of the year

[ME Michaud]

when we welcome the stranger.

This morning, during the second lesson, a phone rang. Then, during the
Gospel, it rang again. And then we heard, "I can't talk now. I'm in church."

Some were too polite to laugh.

Some strangers are stranger than others.

Also we have a choir member who carries her baby daughter in a sling
fastened over her cotta. I told a friend about it, a rather rigid, lonely
friend, because I thought he'd find it as charming as I do.

"It's her responsibility to give her full attention to the director," he
replied, most huffily. "Anything that distracts her shouldn't be tolerated."

She has a beautiful voice, a beautiful baby, and curly hair. What's not to
love?
-M