Dispatch from Forbearance Presbyterian Church
Lizzie's Razmatazz
by Charlotte Johnstone
 For
as long as anyone could remember, Yvonne Pouchert had been in
charge of arranging Forbearance's Christmas decorations. Under
her direction, the church was not "dressed for the season,"
as she called it, until two weeks before Christmas Eve. The holiday
décor she deemed suitable for a house of worship was always
understated and restrained---subdued wreaths on the front doors,
a wreath on the back wall of the chancel and demure arrangements
of red carnations in the two Communion table vases. Yvonne was
not a fan of a prolonged Christmas season and she positively
loathed the glitzy and overdone excess that seemed to appear
earlier and earlier around town. She considered Forbearance's
modest display and its timely appearance as the ultimate in good
taste and an example of the "less is more" theory.
"Holding the line" is what she called it and every
Christmas Forbearance looked exactly the same.
However, last November, upon being stricken
with a painful case of shingles, Yvonne appealed to the women
of Forbearance for someone to take her place, which was when
Lizzie Porter, who had not previously evidenced much enthusiasm
for church work, eagerly volunteered. Yvonne, who did not know
Lizzie particularly well, was nevertheless pleased that Lizzie
was ready to be more involved, and she passed on her notes about
acquiring the components of Forbearance's traditional decorations.
What she could not have known, and what
Lizzie certainly did not tell her, was that Lizzie was an unabashed
Christmas enthusiast---"less is more" was not in her
vocabulary and, as far as she was concerned, Christmas could
not start too soon.
Charlotte Johnstone is a member of Immanuel
Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She (and the cast
of Forbearance Presbyterian Church) welcome comments. Write to
her at Horizons, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202-1396
or email wjohns4949@aol.com.
Read more about Lizzie and other members
of Forbearance Presbyterian Church in the November/December 2003
issue of Horizons
Call 800/ 524-2612 to subscribe or Order
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