PRAYER AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY

My kin and I got together for a Christmas party this weekend. I drove my wife, kids, dog, and mother-in-law out to a woodsy town on the south shore. We unloaded the gifts, and burrowed in for a cozy evening. As we caught up on each other’s lives the saucy smell of tomato sauce slowly filled the room.

Before we sat to eat the hostess stood up to give a prayer. She pulled out her iPhone, put it at arms length and slightly raised for better reading, and started to speak. The prayer, naturally, addressed God directly. It was full of “dear god”, or “we ask you”, or we “thank you”.

Near the end I looked up. With fresh eyes I saw something startling. There, right where the hostess had been praising God, was a someone new. It was at once the same woman and yet oddly unknown, bathed in a sterilizing technical light. She had her hands up in exaltation, eyes fixated on a totem of glass and black metal.

At length the prayer stopped. In an instant the light vanished and the totem disappeared into a pocket. It was over.

We sat down and had a wonderful meal.