Something Old, Something New

Old: Orthodox Christianity

New: Me attending an Orthodox church

I've been going to vespers on Saturday nights for several weeks, and I've been to liturgy on Sunday mornings twice now. I've also been attending a class on Tuesdays, for which I'm reading this book. (It's a good read, so far.)

I was a little down this last Saturday. Last week was just hard, and I was feeling it. I knew I wouldn't be going back to the Baptist church the next day, or possibly any Sunday for that matter, and that was painful. So was my out-of-joint hip. It was a bit of a struggle to not start crying. Looking ahead to Sunday, tears seemed almost inevitable.

There was supposed to be a meeting of the young adults group after vespers. I was going to go. I figured I could at least give it a chance. So I hung out for a bit after vespers in order to find out where to go. Except that when the priest's wife sat next to me, she told me that it was canceled.

I can't say I was terribly disappointed. I was even less so when she immediately followed that announcement with an invitation to join her and Father Patrick for dinner. Hey, that works for me. With the smaller crowd and people who aren't total strangers, it sounded much more my speed.

Well, we got to talking. He asked about college and what my degree was. Guess what. Forget it, you won't guess. They're both linguists. Now, I pretty much already knew he was. I mean, he is constantly making comments that only a linguist would make.

It was quite an enjoyable evening. There was reading of German poetry. There was quoting of Winston Churchill and Mark Twain. By the time I left, I wasn't down anymore. I wasn't thinking about any of the hard stuff. It only got better, too. The day ended with an unexpected phone call from The Boy. It made me smile.