Once a year my three sisters and I try to get together for a few days. Scattered as we are across the UK it provides a great opportunity for fun, fellowship, recalling our childhood days and sharing news of our children and grandchildren.
And so a starry night in August found us lying on the grass at Angela’s house in Yeovil gazing up at the twinkling lights, hoping to see shooting stars or ignited bits of space debris. The conversation went something like this:
“There’s a satellite!”
“It’s not, it’s a plane”
“Look, a shooting star!”
“Missed it again, I never see them!”
“Speaking of celestial spheres, which one has your church joined?”
“Don’t you mean “apostolic”? Hope we are still firmly on the ground!”
“So which one are you in then?”
“Well, it used to be up north, but it’s more central now. Grand Central I think.”
“Isn’t that in New York?”
“No you can get to it from Euston.”
“Oh. Like the one we’ve joined, the Underground….or is it Groundswell? Ground something…(sings) “Underground, Overground, wombling free…” Something to do with being near Wimbledon Common perhaps.”
“Groundsheet? Ground beef?”
“No, that’s MacDonalds.”
“They’ve gone all ecological haven’t they? MacDonalds I mean.”
“Oh I thought you meant that sphere that’s gone West: Confusion.”
“It’s more political than that; Coalition, that’s it.”
“Sounds like an accident, two spheres colliding. Do the leaders have to wear yellow ties?”
“No, they never wear ties, but I’ve seen them wear yellow wellies, at that camp in the west.”
“Oh, that was at Emission! Told you it was ecological.”
“You’re getting muddled with the Midlands lot, you know, Analyst. They have all the brainy scientific churches there.”
“Analyst sounds a bit introverted; not very outgoing. Not like Radical Mission”
“You mean Relational.”
“Aren’t we all though? “Relational Values”, that’s what it is. No, hold on, “Friends and Relations.”
“Must’ve got that wrong! That’s from Winnie the Pooh! Rabbit’s Friends and Relations!”
“Winnie the Pooh? We used to get everything from the Bible!”
“Remember when Mum used to read to us? Winnie the Pooh, and the Bible; all sorts of stuff.”
We were all Morgans then – Wendy Morgan, Angela Morgan, Josephine Morgan and Susan Morgan. Now we are Wendy Virgo, Angela Alsop, Josephine Garbutt and Susan Hall; still sisters though, still family. Still love being together, sharing what we hold dear, our history and hopes for the future.
It’s great being family, whatever we call ourselves.
The Wendy House 
I LOVED this, Wendy! My sisters and I also try to get together for a weekend once a year. It’s been three years since we’ve been able to pull it off, but we have a weekend set aside next month. I can’t wait! Thank you for the reminder of the treasure I have in my sisters. I think I’ll send them this post.
I LOVED this, Wendy! My sisters and I also try to get together once a year. It’s been three years since we’ve been able to pull it off, but we have a weekend set aside next month. I can’t wait! Thank you for the reminder of the treasure we have in our sisters. I think I’ll send them your post.
Oh Wendy thank you so much for this funny insight into your conversation! And thank you for describing the Midlands’ NF church’s as ‘brainy’ and ‘scientific’!! (Not sure it’s actually true though….)
Haha! Too funny… Sounds just like the conversations I have with my siblings – all inside jokes, and largely un-follow-able by anyone else. Love that you ended up with Winnie the Pooh.
Hilarious post, Wendy, the sort of things that sisters say when they are together!. The one thing I have often wished for is that I had a sister! But God has given me a fab daughter instead – and you know her! As for the comments re Catalyst, yes se are brainy and scientific but that comes with having Emmanuel Church Oxford as part of the sphere.
Thanks Wendy – I’d forgotten how much I missed the ‘stream of consciousness’ singing -one of us starts a hymn at the top of the house, another joins in in the kitchen and a third pipes up in the bathroom -at one point we went from ‘Jerusalem’ to ‘Say a liitle prayer for you’ in an easy segue.
Happy Days
Great piece of writing Wendy. LOVE the description of the Newfrontiers family!