As I was thinking of a title for this piece, I came up with “Yes, the Fire Detection System Works” or "Ash Wednesday Comes a Day Early" or “The Case of the Burnt Pancakes” or “Never Let the Men of the Church Have Run of the Kitchen.”
At 1:15 AM this morning a phone call awakened me. It was the alarm company. A smoke detector had detected smoke in the kitchen area of the church and Peters Twp VFD was on its way in answer to the call.
I arrived at the church shortly thereafter and a fire truck and two police cruisers greeted me in the parking lot. The lot was lit up like Christmas! I let two firemen clad in Scott Air-packs and facemasks, looking like aliens from Mars, in through the front door as the alarm system was blasting like a loud claxon throughout the building. In short order they arrived in the kitchen and found the culprits – two large trays of blackened pancakes smoking away in the oven!
The firemen turned off the oven, disposed of the two trays outdoors and with two large fans cleared out most of the smoke. The kitchen and downstairs will smell like burnt pancakes for a few days. By 2:15 AM I was back in bed, smelling like burnt pancakes and with the adrenalin flowing full tilt, I listened to Gale and Sherman blissfully breathing in rhythmic sleep as I stared at the ceiling for the next hour!
Yet it was a very successful Shrove Tuesday Pancake and Sausage Supper ---- over 65 attendees, with lots of help and great fellowship. And one I will never forget!
Incense should take care of that residual burn smell, however, pancake ashes for imposition of ashes is a little unorthodox.
ReplyDeleteYou're supposed to make jelly filled do-nuts with a fancy name!
ReplyDeleteI've had lightning bolts destroy two church bell systems, but I confess the smoking pancakes in the oven presents a challenge as a metaphor in a sermon!
ReplyDelete"Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as smoking pancakes"?
just linked this article on my facebook account. it’s a very interesting article for all.
ReplyDeleteSmoking Oven