Sunday, July 12, 2009

Next up in the Church Visiting series

Argument doesn’t save souls
I attend a midweek morning service at Our Lady of the Snows Roman Catholic Church in Windsor, VT, where I hear a sermon about the futility of casting pearls before swine.

No miracles for you
I attend Martin Luther Chapel in Pennsauken, NJ, where I am told not to expect God to perform any miracles today.

Enter into the silence
I attend St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church in Cherry Hill, NJ, where I am the only person in the pews for the first hour, see paedocommunion for the first time, and discover that Greek people really, really enjoy being Greek.

Don’t worry; this is in no way an ecumenical event
I attend Covenant Presbyterian Church in Cherry Hill, NJ, where I learn about an upcoming meeting among Christian and Muslim women and hear a sermon on divorce.

2 comments:

  1. >"where I am the only person in the pews for the first hour"

    I made the same error as a teen. I looked up the Sunday service time and arrived promptly.

    Would have been nice to know that the first hour is prayer and that the laity are not expected to show up until about midpoint. As one never knows exactly when the prayer phase will end, most folks show up early enough that when the transition occurs, they are in place.

    My teen visit turned out to be prophetic. I eventually lived on Crete, had a child born in Greece, and have a deep appreciation for Greek culture. Were I not already a Latin (Roman) Catholic, I'd be a Melkite Catholic.

    Tokalo...

    - Timothy

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  2. Kal' hemeara, Timotheos - Wow - your visit was prophetic! I dream of visiting Greece some day.

    Even though I wasn't expected during the first hour, I'm glad I was there. It was a very, very interesting service. I'm hoping to get that post published within the next day or so.

    And please excuse what is likely some very bad transliteration in my greeting - my college Greek is quite rusty.

    Thank you for visiting the blog!

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