A legacy of faith and prayer.
In quietness and trust shall be your strength!
It was Sunday morning and we were all dressed in formal wear and heading off to Zion church for the 8am service. It was the church were Appa and Amma were married and the place which saw me and my thambi Sudhan baptized. Going to Zion meant we could meet Thatha, Paatti and my 3 maamas and chithi. Amma and I used to sit in the left wing with Paatti and chithi. Across from us at the back of the choir Thatha would be seated. Thatha’s loud ,clear praise of God as he sang the paamalais and keerthanais added to the vibrant music of the whole church. I was so proud of his singing. (‘That’s my Thatha’ I muttered under my breath)
After church Sudhan and I used to squeeze into Thatha’s car for the joy ride home to eat Paatti’s delectable fluffy pooris and yellow tasty potato subji. It was later I realized that mince meat was thrown into the potato for that special ‘Paatti touch.
In 1988 I had the privilege of singing in the choir as part of their Redemption concert. Thatha used to take me for practices , stay with me and drop me home. I remember a time when he bought all the choir members masala dosai. I sang the part Amma had sung years before that of Mary Magdalene. It was humbling to sing with Abe mama. Hilda Paatti and I travelled by bus to few of the practices. Her clear, confident alto was a treasure to hear.
I was blessed to grow up with ‘a legacy of faith and prayer’. Daily family prayer times with Bible reading, prayer and singing and learning of new hymns were special parts of the day! Appa and Amma studied Theology together and we saw that they loved and treasured the word of God. I was so proud and happy when Appa preached at Zion. Amma used to sit in the pew, pencil in hand, writing notes and sometimes points which could have been said better! When friends and family visited Appa used to bring out the hymn books and ask me to play the piano as he called out the hymn numbers. As I nervously floated over the keys we sang some of our family favorites. ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ and ‘Take my life and let it be’ being on top of the list!
As I finish I thank God for parents and grand parents who showed by example to trust God and do good.
Psalm 37:3a
Trust in the Lord and do good
