From annoying to "pied piper" ...

From annoying to "pied piper" ...

In 1985, while I was serving in my first associate pastorate in California, there was one teenager who played the recorder.  All. The. Time.  Or so it seemed to me.  At any free moment, when not talking to boys, she could be found entertaining herself (and others??) by tootling out some notes.  I don't know if anyone else listened to her, but I did.

Not that I really wanted to, mind you.  The recorder has always been up there on my list of annoying sounds - right along with the whine of a mosquito while I'm trying to sleep and fingers-on-the-chalkboard.

But the recorder seemed to reflect the spirit of this girl who, when not tootling, was usually singing or laughing.  Only many years later would I learn those sounds were really masking much deeper groans of confusion and pain.

She eventually graduated out of the youth group and took her recorder with her.  In the years that followed, her life had many twists and turns - eventually bringing her back to the church just as I was finishing up my tenure there.  She became an advocate within the church for the importance of ministering to youth as she had been ministered to.  And after a few more years, she, herself, became the youth leader at that church.  I hope she had to listen to someone else play the recorder - or harmonica or kazoo.

Now, Katie Mulligan is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and leading a collaborative youth ministry program in a number of churches near Trenton, NJ.  She attended L.O.G. #1 in Goleta, CA and soon will begin L.O.G. #1 in Lawrenceville, NJ.

I'm not sure if she ever plays her recorder anymore, but she's learning to play the guitar so she can lead youth in singing their praise to and love of God - - a holy pied piper if there ever was one.