The Churchgoer

Back in 2005, I went over to my friend’s house. This friend lived in Chanhassen, and he had told me about how Prince attended his church. It just so happened to be a special occasion at the church, so he was almost positive Prince would be there.

Anyway, we stayed up way too late and when we woke up we rushed to the service, which was just starting. The only available seats were in the front row. As we sat down, I noticed that Prince and his wife (Manuela) were seated in the second row, almost directly behind us. Prince was wearing exactly what you’d imagine Prince wearing to church: A three-piece white and lavender suit embellished with shiny Swarovski crystals. The service opened with a song, and I mouthed along to the words while secretly listening to Prince sing praises to the Creator.

About halfway through the service my late night started to catch up with me and I caught myself falling asleep. I was doing that thing where your head slowly sinks down until you catch yourself and snap back up to attention. This happened for a while, and eventually I was full-on sleeping. Suddenly I was awoken by a jolt to my chair. I turned to my friend on the left, but his attention was on the speaker ahead of us. I looked to the woman on my right: Same thing. Then I peered over my left shoulder and saw Prince staring back at me. He didn’t say anything. He just looked me in the eyes, looked forward towards the speaker, and motioned up with his chin, like “Hey fool, pay attention.”

I freaked out. I turned to my friend. “Dude, Prince just woke me up!”

Benjamin Thunderbolt
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