Visit #180 ~ First a funeral, then Vespers!

at the memorial service of Seymour Levin
May his memory be eternal!

A friend of mine passed away last week. His name was Seymour Levin, an ordained deacon in the Church of the Nazarene.  He was a faithful servant of God and has a great testimony of being converted to Christ while in prison. He converted despite being raised Jewish. (As you can see from the pic above, he still had Judaism had a place in his heart)   I went to his memorial service last Saturday....well I tried to, anyway.  You see, I was so exhausted from work that I feel asleep at 3pm and didn't wake up till 5:15pm, thus by the time I got to the service, it was time for the last hymn.  The place was packed and, even though, I missed the service, I was able to join the receiving line and condole with his widow.  They had a light supper downstairs afterwards. I stayed a little bit and then made my way to Vespers.

My life has been a bit crazy lately and I haven't been able to get Sunday's off for Church so, thankfully, I attended Vespers last Saturday. It was great to be back in Vespers which is my "introductory" service into Orthodoxy.  I do love Vespers but when given the choice of the DL or Vespers, I of course, have to opt for the DL, which is why I haven't been to a regular Vesper's Service (not counting Holy Week or Pre-Sanctified) since February 3rd. (Read about it here.) But Vespers holds a special place in my heart.

I lit two candles as Fr. Deacon Alexander led in prayers.  One for my family and one for the newly-reposed Seymour Levin.  Fr. Gary spoke about St. Jacob of Alaska and the importance of missions.  You can read more about him here.

St. Jacob, pray for us!

It was good to be back at Vespers. Hopefully, I can attend the Divine Liturgy this Sunday, if I can get someone to take my shift at work.