Catching Up

It's been awhile since I've written and much has happened. First and foremost, I finally had a complete week of classes. Along with that comes a full week of homework and reading. I'm doing my best to keep ahead of the assignments but it gets pretty tough. My Old Testament class is great. It is three hours long on Thursday nights but I thoroughly enjoy the lectures by Prof. Owens. It's been great. I've also been enjoying my Greek class. It's nice to use "the other" side of my brain (much more in line with my engineering background). And, much to my surprise, I tried out for the choir and made it! I'm hoping that it will allow me to become a better singer as I believe music and singing are very important parts of the liturgy. So, I'm ready for another week.

I've had some pretty interesting worship experiences the last two Sundays. As part of the Tutorial Seminar class I have been encouraged to worship at an Episcopal church with a worship style I have not had much experience with and to visit a church of another denomination. Last week I attended a 6:00PM contemporary liturgy at Epiphany Episcopal Church. It was a very interesting service using modern live music (piano, guitar, drums) throughout the service. Even during the Great Thanksgiving there was music in the background and images displayed beside the altar. I believe they refer to this as emerging liturgy. While I expected to find this distracting, it was actually quite nice and peaceful. The music performance was excellent and soothing. However, I did discover that for me personally some of the images were a bit unsettling. Overall, the worship was spirit filled and I think I'd like to go back and visit again.

Today I and several others went to a Baptist Church in the Bronx that is the home parish of one of my class mates. I have never been to a Baptist Church before today and this was certainly an eye opening experience. The service was 2.5 hours of spirit filled singing, preaching, praying and packed with "Amen"s. It was a pleasure to worship there. The congregation was very welcoming, and, although it was obvious I was an outsider, they made me feel at home. The service is significantly different than how I prefer to worship yet the presence of Christ can not be denied. I find it fascinating that although there are many different styles of worship (each of us with a style that works for us) and different interpretation of the scriptures, we remain brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks be to God. 

To my Parish Family is Coronado, thanks so much for the prayers and support. I'm loving the postcards and I think they will come in handy when I'm looking at the snow covered close and dreaming of the warm San Diego days. And remember, if any of you make it to NYC, give me a call!

Until next time (and I'll try not to be so long between posts!)