Video: And Now You Can See What A Dork I Am

I knew I'd forget things in the video. Apparently they have two priests at the church, and this time it was the younger one. He's a little less heavy on the incense. :)

Anyhow. Things one must adjust to if going to an Orthodox Church from, well, pretty much anywhere else: When you get there, assuming you get there at the time stated in the bulletin, you will think that you're late. There's a pre-Divine Liturgy service that starts an hour before, called Orthos (or Matins). In my limited understanding, it's the preparation for the Divine Liturgy. So yes, you will be walking in on a service 'in progress'. It's okay. People walk around the church more than anywhere else I've ever been. They are constantly walking up to icons and lighting candles. You just have to get used to it. Also, people come 'late'. No one minds.

Personal stuff. Like I said, everyone was super nice! It was so lovely and warm and happy! One couple brought their baby who was, I'm guessing, maybe a few months old. Towards the end of the service she got fussy and cried a little. There was *no* shushing and dirty looks like 'shuffle the kid out!'. The only comment I heard was, 'Isn't that a lovely sound to hear!' *makes gushy faces*

The service is a mix of Greek and English. The hymns are sung in Greek, but the hymnal has the words in both languages so you can follow along. They also use a book of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with English and Greek. As a matter of fact, here's the book:



Anyway. When I say that the service is split, I mean that sometimes it's Greek one sentence and English the next. Like, during the Petitions. One will be in Greek, along with the response, and the next will be in English. And there are some things, like the Creed and the Our Father, which are said twice. Once in Greek and then again in English. But the homily is only in English.

Also, while Communion was going on, I was looking around at the icons, trying to figure out who was who. I figured out most of them, but, here's the awesome surprise:



This is a picture of the iconostasis of the church from their website. From left to right we have, by my figuring, St. Michael the Archangel, the Last Supper, the Virgin Mary and the Child Christ, the Annunciation (on the doors), Christ, St. John the Forerunner, and, in the last icon on the right....*drum roll* St. Raphael the Archangel! My thrill is because *no one* ever uses Raphael! It's always Michael and Gabriel that get the love! And since Raphael is my patron saint...*grin* I was *so happy* to see him up there!

Hmmm...the grandma's, like I said, abducted me and made me go to coffee hour. They even fed me, though I turned down the baklava. They also managed to find out, in about five seconds, that I am neither married nor in a relationship. I have no idea how, or why this was important information. Even though I kept saying, at first, that I was just visiting, and I made a point of explaining that I was neither Greek nor Orthodox, they insisted on referring to me as the 'new parishioner'. So I eventually just gave up and went with it. *shrug* I also have my 'official' table for coffee hour, with them, and must be back next week.

On the non-church related front, I was in the parking lot at the mall around 4:30 this afternoon, talking with a friend of mine after a movie. We could see there was a storm way off in the distance, but it was clear where we were. And then, all of a sudden, there was the electrical poppoppoppop like light bulbs and electronics blowing, and then the freaking *ground* shook as lightning shot over our heads! It set off car alarms, I'm not even kidding. And that's when we decided we were done talking. :)

This is the second time I've been close to a lightning strike. The last time was years ago. I was weeding, and a storm was coming up, but I just wanted to finish what I was doing. So I kept on weeding and weeding until *boom* when the flash and the thunder come at the same time, you're *under* the lightning, boys and girls. It hit in the empty lot across the street, and I *still* felt like I'd stuck my finger in a socket. My hair stood up, I'm not even kidding. And that's when I figured the weeding was done for the moment. :)