‘ Say cheese! Go on! Smile!’ urged Puff as she snapped yet another photo for the album. She was determined to make sure no-one forgot any facet of this holiday as she finished the seventh film and reloaded another!

‘ Put that camera away now Puff’ said Papa. ‘ We are going into church.’ ( They had found a church service which would be conducted mainly in English for the benefit of tourists.)

‘ But Papa, I want some photos inside too’ stetted Puff thinking of the architecture and setting for her photos.

Papa explained in the simplest terms that she wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the building where people were worshipping, so reluctantly - very reluctantly - she packed it away.

Then to her surprise the pastor brought out an object for the children’s address and he asked the young ones if they could recognise it... You have guessed, haven’t you ? It was a camera!

Puff turned round and scowled at Papa who shrugged his shoulders and thankfully hid the redness of his embarrassment under his thick coat of brown fur.

The pastor said that today the older ones would celebrate the Sacrament of Communion. Instantly Puff looked at the table at the front of the building draped with a white linen sheet and decked with bread and wine. She had seen this happen at home too, though she was quite unsure of its significance.

The pastor then produced a photograph album where he stored the collection of photos taken with his camera. Being a curious cub Puff was desperate to have a peep at them. At the beginning of the album he had photographs from the past when he was a little boy himself and he invited them to have a look.

‘ Waoo! You had a lot of hair then’ said Puff in genuine amazement and everyone chuckled.

Gradually he turned the pages until he arrived at the photos of the present day. Puff recognised a recent photo of him standing outside the church building.

He continued to flick over the pages until he came to the blank ones with nothing yet in them.

And he closed his album and said ‘ At the beginning of the album were photos of the past - old pictures. Isn’t it good to be able to look back at the good times we had ?’

He told them that at communion we are simply looking back at what Jesus once did for us. Jesus told his followers to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of Him. What was there to remember ? Well He suffered and died for our sins, didn’t He ? So it is a time to look back and remember what Jesus did for us.

‘ Then we saw some photographs of the present day, and at communion we also consider the present. We think of all the things God gives us on a daily basis and we thank Him. We let Him know how much we love Him. So it’s a time to think and thank God for the present. The benefits of the Cross are ours today. ’

‘And back to the album once more. What was in the rest of it ? Nothing except blank pages looking to the future. Well at communion we also look to the future, trusting in God to supply our needs and promising to live more faithful lives.’

So the idea was that communion was like a photograph album where we ponder the past and praise God for the present and promise to live better lives in the future.

Puff and Padders really appreciated the talk. In fact they enjoyed the entire service. The only strange part was when the congregation said the Lord’s Prayer together in Portuguese. It sounded so weird. And afterwards Papa remarked on it himself.

‘ Isn’t it so funny how the Lord’s Prayer can trip off our tongues in English - we can say it without thinking about it - and that’s sad.’

Puff and Padders were sure they knew it off by heart but when Papa asked them to write it out, they stumbled in parts. It was a useful exercise because Papa said it was pointless saying the words if they did not understand what they were saying.
He told them about a boy who was at school with him who said - Our Father in charge of heaven, instead of Our father which art in heaven... Of course what he said was true - God is in charge of heaven and everywhere else, but that wasn’t part of the Lord’s prayer.

Another boy in the class said - Harold be Thy name, instead of hallowed be Thy name. Puff sniggered but Papa sternly told her that God’s name is always to be kept holy and respected.

And he told them about a boy from London who wrote - Lead us not into Thames station,, for that was the name of the Police Barracks near where he lived! That was not a bad prayer!! But it was not the words which Jesus taught. He should have said - Lead us not into temptation...

So Puff and Padders realised that the meaning of the words in prayer was all important. While they would have liked to say it in Portuguese, they decided it was much better of they understood it in English first! No longer would they rhyme it off; they would concentrate on what they said.

‘Oh no!’ said Puff suddenly.’ There’s only one day left of our holiday! Argh...’