Idiots

OK, so now I'm all pissed off. We have 136,003 cable channels apparently, and NONE of them are showing the Bengals/Browns game. I'm stuck with either the Steelers/Bills (who the hell cares, neither team is even going to make it to the play-offs--and NO STEELER FAN, they AREN'T so get used to the idea now!) OR, I can watch the Packers/NY Giants game. What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here people!?!

With that out of the way, we had an interesting spiritual adventure last week going to St. Paul's K Street. SPKS (too much to type out) is an Anglican Episcopal church in the center of D.C., about 1/4 of a mile from The White House. They have Mass. Seriously, it is Mass. Smells and Bells everywhere. We sat about half way back and came out smelling like we hang our clothes in an incense-factory closet (...um, or something, you get the idea here people). St. Paul's came recommended to us by one of our seminarian neighbors who said, "If you want to see how 'high church' is done, check this place out." So we did...felt a little out of place. I'm not used to genuflecting every time you enter/exit a pew, crossing yourself every time someone says the name "Jesus", and chanting the entire service. Luckily the words were in English and not Latin. That and we didn't pray to The Virgin Mary and/or The Pope or The Queen--other than that it was pretty much like a Roman Catholic High Mass. The priest, who is English, said the Eucharist facing the altar, not the congregation, and we were invited to either receive the host in our hands or on our tongues. Yes, Dane Cook's Eucharist skit did go through my head (A "Jee-zit", I love it!). If you haven't seen that, go peep it on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEHK2LiYLOI

The one thing that got me was the number of worship bulletins we received: one for the service specific to that Sunday, another for the sung part of the Eucharist, another that had the collects and several of the service music chants and another that had the readings...ALONG WITH having to use the Prayer Book and The Hymnal, it was quite confusing. Made me wish for the good old days at Redeemer with one 8-page bulletin and a Hymnal as the main sources of information.

I will give St. Paul's THIS, however--of all the churches we've ever visited...and this includes any churches we've ever attended for any amount of time, St. Paul's wins the prize for the most welcoming! As soon as our rear ends hit the pew we were invited by the greeter who came and tracked us down to join them for coffee hour after the service...several of the parishioners at the peace went out of their way to greet us and welcome us, and a couple of Sunday School teachers came over after the service, introduced themselves and, since they saw we had children, wondered if we'd like them to escort them to the proper classroom if we were going to stay for coffee hour. At a service where there were easily 150+ people, it was very nice to have been invited into the goings on that Sunday. So that was really nice.

I've been thinking a lot about a major decision coming up here in a couple of months--what church to select for my Field Education. Basically, it boils down to this--I have to pick a church that I'm going to spend my Middler year with (12 hours a week) learning everything I can about, well...EVERYTHING. I'm taking a class now that is giving me several dozen ways to look at and evaluate types and kinds of churches, various styles of ministry, etc. etc. so that I can make this important decision. Do I go with a church that is much larger than what I'm used to, a smaller Family-Sized church, one that is waaaaay different from the "low church" ecumenical style we're going to learn at VTS? Hmmm..

Stupid Bengals. Losing 20-14 to THE BROWNS?! Ugh.

Good thing I'm stuck with the stupid Steelers. Hatred.