Getting a Crowd to Quiet Down

As a lifelong Episcopalian,
I know there is one sure way to quiet down a meeting, you say:
The Lord be with you. Everyone will immediately shush and reply:
And also with you. It’s like magic. You can have 300 Episcopalians
chatting in a room but as soon as someone steps to the microphone and says
The Lord be with you, the meeting starts and everyone settles down.
In non-church life, there are rough equivalents but nothing quite so effective.
I find a rousing shout of Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the meeting
will now begin! works OK but not as well.

On Saturday, my husband and I attended the 16th anniversary dinner and dance
to celebrate the founding of
Holy Child Episcopal Church, a Filipino-American mission congregation
in San Jose, CA. I found that they have an additional crowd quieting
call-and-response ritual which works very well. The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio stood at
the microphone and said God is good! and the ballroom (which until
a minute before had been full of conversations and laughter) chorused back
All the time! She then reponded with All the time! and they
cheered back God is good! Then, everyone was quiet to hear what
Ruth had to say.

The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio is the Vicar of Holy Child. Ruth is the first
Filipino-American woman clergy ordained in California and only the third in the
USA. I had the honor of participating in her ordination to the priesthood
a year ago. Ruth is a capable and energetic leader but also a modest person.
Having more than one crowd quieting ritual available must be of help to her.

Saturday’s dinner-dance seemed like a big success. There was a live band and
a DJ, raffles and plaques to honor notables, Bishop-elect

Mary Gray-Reeves spoke, as did Holy Child’s founding Vicar
(and the current national church Director of Ethnic Congregational Development)

Rev. Fred Vergara, as did

Joe Esteves, Mayor of Milpitas, and Holy Child Senior Warden, Angie
Dela Cruz. The food was very good, the dancing was fun (yes, Bishop
Mary can dance!), and the company was charming.