Visit #45 ~ Happy to be there!

photo by Rob Kliene, used under the creative commons license.

check out more photos at::  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rkleine/

When I was a young man, attending a pentacostal Church, our pastor would ask the question from the pulpit, "Are you happy to be in the house of the Lord tonight?" We would all answer "Amen" and the service would continue with a rousing hymn of some sort.

Well, If Father Gary had asked a similar question, I might have reverted to my pentacostal ways and screamed a hearty "Amen!" It truly was good to be chanting psalms and hymns. As we move closer to the celebration of the Nativity, I find it very edifying to spend time in Worship. I found myself thinking, "I want to be a part of these people" ~ a people who put worship of Christ first! Vespers is a time of reverence and a time of Awe!

Fr Ken was in attendance tonight. He sang with the choir as Fr. Gary led us. Afterwards, I spoke with Fr Ken for a while and, as I greeted him with the triune kiss of peace, he smiled because he noticed I was growing a goatee. 'Ah, you are becoming one of us" he said, or something like that. I told him that it was my wife's idea and if she knew the special significance that the Orthodox place on beards, she would opt to have me hairless! I will post a picture of myself when it is grown in.

We also chatted about his parish that he is pastor of in Manville, NJ. They recently moved back into their church because it had been flooded out due to Hurricane Irene. "I paid a hundred dollars per pew at usedpews.org," Fr Ken said. Given that new pews cost $2000 each, he was very happy for the bargain. He is pastor of a Carpatho-Russian Parish and they are on the old calendar so he invited me to Christmas eve service in January. I may go but it is over an hour and 15 minutes from my house....but I might!

Speaking of Christmas eve, I made a video invite for my protestant parish. I am in it (sadly). The lighting is bad, the volume is horrible but it is good for a non~professional like me! I had trouble with Windows movie maker recognizing some of the files so I had to retake some of the footage. Anyway. take a listen and enjoy.
At the end of the video is my pastor who promised to visit Vespers with me sometime in January!