It happened again after several decades. And it happened in church! I felt like a teenager because something funny transpired, and I began giggling. When, as teens, we all sat together in church, it wasn’t unheard of for something to occur that set the entire row atwitter. Have you ever had that almost irresistible urge to laugh at an inappropriate time—like in church?

That morning, during the worship, a scripture came to mind that I wanted to look up before I forgot it. I opened my phone’s Bible app during the announcements because I no longer build Sunday muscles by hauling a leather-bound tome to church. I had a vague idea of where to find the verse but not the exact reference. As I pushed what I thought was the forward arrow for the next page, I accidentally hit the audio button. Did I mention that it happened in church?

Imagine half-listening to the announcements when, suddenly, a male voice starts talking—loudly. And it’s coming from your phone! I had turned my ringer off but hadn’t lowered the volume. Heads turned in my immediate vicinity to see who was being so rude. Horrified and giggling simultaneously, the long-dormant feeling of trying to control something that verged on the uncontrollable resurfaced.

Flustered, I attempted turning off the phone, but the app had an iron will despite my panicked intervention. The screen was dark and inactive, but the voice continued. Rational thought isn’t easy to achieve when you’re flustered and stifling giggles. Eventually, I opened the app again and paused the disruptive discourse.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of the erupting giggles. Periodically through the service, an intrusive titter threatened to surface and embarrass me. Who knew that at my age, I’d still be working on acceptable behaviour in church? And I’m a mother and a grandmother!

One of my fellow teenage church gigglers, who has been a friend since childhood, has retired in the same area and joined our church. On the day of the Bible app fiasco, she and her husband were sitting on the other side of my husband. That made it even funnier as memories of our shared youth surfaced. Who would have dreamed we would be together in a similar situation decades later? My husband’s presence between us (likely a good thing) probably blocked her awareness of my ongoing struggle to keep my thoughts in line. I was grateful that the battle hadn’t resulted in any snorts because I didn’t need anything else adding to my mortification. 

Since then, memories of other church giggles have surfaced. My mother once experienced an attention-destroying situation. Years ago, congregants often were asked to sing a solo or duet in the service. That morning, a retired minister walked to the platform, sang his solo, and, with great dignity, left the podium and sat with another woman rather than his wife. The “other woman” was my mother. His spouse watched (and enjoyed) the predicament from the pew behind where Mom sat. The entire service was a write-off for my very proper mother, which was evident because her shoulders occasionally shook. Her children thought the whole episode was hilarious (as did many other people), especially since it happened in church.

I’m not in a hurry to repeat my faux pas, but as far as embarrassing situations go, it could have been far worse!