Menagerie Part Two
A few days ago I told you the story of a mysterious little menagerie of toy animals that appeared and then disappeared from a large rock by the sidewalk that leads to the front door of our church. I speculated that someone from a wedding party might have removed them.
The Original Menagerie that Disappeared
A few days later I was picking up around the church when I found something interesting in the nursery.
At first glance I thought I had found my lost collection of toy animals. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the turtle and the giraffe and the rabbit were missing. The hippopotamus was blue instead of purple, and a baby elephant had been added to the collection.
I wondered what else I might find if I wandered around the church. I found the rabbit under a table in Judy’s Sunday School room.
Despite my best efforts, the turtle, the giraffe, and the original hippo were nowhere to be found. I did, however, find a lion in the corner of the nursery.
So I reconstructed the collection as best I could. It wasn't exactly the same, but certainly in the same spirit as the original.
My Reconstruction
Yesterday I found that some mysterious person has added a turtle and two birds eating from a bushel of apples to our little shrine.
Our New Menagerie
I wonder where this is going. Will it become famous? Will animals mysteriously appear and disappear from time to time? Will people make pilgrimages to see this shrine, like they do to see the image of Jesus on a tortilla?
Occasionally someone will ask me what ministers do all day when they're not preaching or visiting someone in a hospital. I’m never quite sure how to answer that question. Next time I think I’ll say that we are here to make sure that sacred places are cared for and important things are not lost in the fast-paced shuffle of everyday life.
rlp
8:59:56 AM 
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