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I caught up with Cathy and her husband Dave recently.
They are our 'old married friends'. I've known Cathy for many years. She joined up with Earth Haven for awhile, and Dedicated, but then left soon after to go do other stuff. When I decided I wanted to learn more about Quabala, Nat mentioned Cathy was the person to talk to. She was, and was leading the local BOTA study group. I joined for awhile and learned a lot, but got to be close friends with Cathy. We went on road trips together. She went with me to Albuquerque for my 30th birthday and took pictures of me riding in a hot air balloon and even went to the top of Sandia Peak, even though she hates cable cars. I went with her to the Anne Rice ball in New Orleans for Halloween, and we both dressed up and pretended to be evil and stuff. She won a really amazingly cool signed poster in a drawing too. Good times.
She met Dave in her BOTA study group. He's close to twenty years younger than she is, and neither pursued their attraction to each other for the longest time because of it. They got passed it though, and I was lucky enough to preside over their wedding (as she was for mine).
Anyway, they are our quiet friends. They don't do anything especially crazy, but they find nice restaurants and things like that. Cathy's been taking a lot of accounting classes, and has been doing volunteer work to get experience. One of the places she's been working at is the homeless shelter at St.David's Episcopal Church, and she's been attending and enjoying services there. They're one of the pretty progressive churches out there- they were the ones betting hosed in civil rights marches, and pissing people off by appointing gay bishops. So I figured I'd give it a try.
Hub hates anything to do with organized religion and did not want to go. Gordon was tempted by the offer of a cheap meal afterwards, though when we got there we found that the cook was on vacation and there was not going to be a meal. I think he was disappointed, but he didn't complain too much. The service was billed as a 'Celtic' service. There was a woman with a huge concert harp, a violinist, and a fellow with a bodhran drum and one of those teeny little accordion things (a concertina, I think). There were 2 officiants, Rev. Smith and Rev. Vano. Rev. Vano, a cute little woman about my age, did most of the service with the older Rev.Smith doing the sermon.
There was a lot of singing of hymns, accompanied by the instrumentalists. I wasn't moved to sing, and Cathy told me this service tended to be pretty laid back so I didn't feel pressured. There were maybe 30 people at the service or so. We sang Jesus, Thou Divine Companion, Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, Sing With All the Saints in Glory, Though I May Speak With Bravest Fire, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, and Of the Father's Love Begotten, along with some amens and alleluias.
Here is what I didn't like. Now, some of this is nit-picky, I will admit, but it rubbed me the wrong way. "Thou, the carpenter of Nazareth, toiling for thy daily food, by thy patience and courage, thou has taught us toil is good." I think I've bitched about the Puritan work ethic and how much I dislike it. I absolutely loath Amazing Grace. I don't care how nice it sounds on bagpipes, I don't like calling myself a 'wretch'. I also didn't like being referred to as "broken" at the point where we did our silent confession of sins. Sure, I fuck up and reflection on how not to do that is a good thing, but come on. Also in Amazing Grace is this line "Was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." It's that attitude that we should be scared of God. "Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his hand" etc. etc. which also brings up the notion that heaven = good while Earth = bad. Then there's the insistence that God must continually be praised, adored, treasured, thanked, blessed, and glorified. There was apart where we repeatedly said something about 'blessings to God'. What does God need our blessings for, he's God, for crying out loud! Whoever observed that Jehovah must be pretty insecure to need so much butt-kissing was right.
Here is what I liked. The decoration was beautiful, not focusing at all on Christ's bloody death. Some of the stained glass in the old sanctuary was positively gorgeous. One of the officiants was a woman, and she apparently was married and had a kid. They both wore plain white robes with white robe belts, and lovely woven green stole (or whatever). Simple and elegant. There were fresh flowers all over the place, and huge picture windows. None of it was ostentatious or gory, my usual complaints about Christian decor. The musicians were excellent. And the sermon was about the very end of that long bit that included the mustard seed; something about 'treasures old and new'. Rev. Smith said he thought that was a call for balance between modernism, accepting the presence of science and progress- and tradition. Both have their place, both are useful, and cutting either one totally out of your life is silly. That's what I liked about it- he focused on balance. Very cool.
I went ahead and took communion. While some of the trappings irked me, the overall message was still "be excellent to each other" and there were more mentions of helping other people and basically making a pleasant community that outweighed the rest. Their courtyard also had lots of greenery and xeriscaping, and an honest-to-goddess labyrinth. It was one of those inlaid brick ones that you just walk through as a way of meditating, and they were training vines up over the area so it will be under a nice green canopy in a year or so.
Anyway, overall I'd give it a thumbs up. As church experiences go, it was pretty decent. We went for dinner at Whole Foods afterwards and discussed the sermon and the rest of the service. I don't think I want to go regularly, but I might go again since Cathy says they rotate the speakers and topics, and the dinner's pretty decent too (and only $5). She also mentioned they had a complines service, which happens at 9pm and involves a small choir group doing acapella pieces that are very complex. That sounds like something worth trying too.
They are our 'old married friends'. I've known Cathy for many years. She joined up with Earth Haven for awhile, and Dedicated, but then left soon after to go do other stuff. When I decided I wanted to learn more about Quabala, Nat mentioned Cathy was the person to talk to. She was, and was leading the local BOTA study group. I joined for awhile and learned a lot, but got to be close friends with Cathy. We went on road trips together. She went with me to Albuquerque for my 30th birthday and took pictures of me riding in a hot air balloon and even went to the top of Sandia Peak, even though she hates cable cars. I went with her to the Anne Rice ball in New Orleans for Halloween, and we both dressed up and pretended to be evil and stuff. She won a really amazingly cool signed poster in a drawing too. Good times.
She met Dave in her BOTA study group. He's close to twenty years younger than she is, and neither pursued their attraction to each other for the longest time because of it. They got passed it though, and I was lucky enough to preside over their wedding (as she was for mine).
Anyway, they are our quiet friends. They don't do anything especially crazy, but they find nice restaurants and things like that. Cathy's been taking a lot of accounting classes, and has been doing volunteer work to get experience. One of the places she's been working at is the homeless shelter at St.David's Episcopal Church, and she's been attending and enjoying services there. They're one of the pretty progressive churches out there- they were the ones betting hosed in civil rights marches, and pissing people off by appointing gay bishops. So I figured I'd give it a try.
Hub hates anything to do with organized religion and did not want to go. Gordon was tempted by the offer of a cheap meal afterwards, though when we got there we found that the cook was on vacation and there was not going to be a meal. I think he was disappointed, but he didn't complain too much. The service was billed as a 'Celtic' service. There was a woman with a huge concert harp, a violinist, and a fellow with a bodhran drum and one of those teeny little accordion things (a concertina, I think). There were 2 officiants, Rev. Smith and Rev. Vano. Rev. Vano, a cute little woman about my age, did most of the service with the older Rev.Smith doing the sermon.
There was a lot of singing of hymns, accompanied by the instrumentalists. I wasn't moved to sing, and Cathy told me this service tended to be pretty laid back so I didn't feel pressured. There were maybe 30 people at the service or so. We sang Jesus, Thou Divine Companion, Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, Sing With All the Saints in Glory, Though I May Speak With Bravest Fire, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, and Of the Father's Love Begotten, along with some amens and alleluias.
Here is what I didn't like. Now, some of this is nit-picky, I will admit, but it rubbed me the wrong way. "Thou, the carpenter of Nazareth, toiling for thy daily food, by thy patience and courage, thou has taught us toil is good." I think I've bitched about the Puritan work ethic and how much I dislike it. I absolutely loath Amazing Grace. I don't care how nice it sounds on bagpipes, I don't like calling myself a 'wretch'. I also didn't like being referred to as "broken" at the point where we did our silent confession of sins. Sure, I fuck up and reflection on how not to do that is a good thing, but come on. Also in Amazing Grace is this line "Was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." It's that attitude that we should be scared of God. "Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his hand" etc. etc. which also brings up the notion that heaven = good while Earth = bad. Then there's the insistence that God must continually be praised, adored, treasured, thanked, blessed, and glorified. There was apart where we repeatedly said something about 'blessings to God'. What does God need our blessings for, he's God, for crying out loud! Whoever observed that Jehovah must be pretty insecure to need so much butt-kissing was right.
Here is what I liked. The decoration was beautiful, not focusing at all on Christ's bloody death. Some of the stained glass in the old sanctuary was positively gorgeous. One of the officiants was a woman, and she apparently was married and had a kid. They both wore plain white robes with white robe belts, and lovely woven green stole (or whatever). Simple and elegant. There were fresh flowers all over the place, and huge picture windows. None of it was ostentatious or gory, my usual complaints about Christian decor. The musicians were excellent. And the sermon was about the very end of that long bit that included the mustard seed; something about 'treasures old and new'. Rev. Smith said he thought that was a call for balance between modernism, accepting the presence of science and progress- and tradition. Both have their place, both are useful, and cutting either one totally out of your life is silly. That's what I liked about it- he focused on balance. Very cool.
I went ahead and took communion. While some of the trappings irked me, the overall message was still "be excellent to each other" and there were more mentions of helping other people and basically making a pleasant community that outweighed the rest. Their courtyard also had lots of greenery and xeriscaping, and an honest-to-goddess labyrinth. It was one of those inlaid brick ones that you just walk through as a way of meditating, and they were training vines up over the area so it will be under a nice green canopy in a year or so.
Anyway, overall I'd give it a thumbs up. As church experiences go, it was pretty decent. We went for dinner at Whole Foods afterwards and discussed the sermon and the rest of the service. I don't think I want to go regularly, but I might go again since Cathy says they rotate the speakers and topics, and the dinner's pretty decent too (and only $5). She also mentioned they had a complines service, which happens at 9pm and involves a small choir group doing acapella pieces that are very complex. That sounds like something worth trying too.
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no subject
Date: Jul. 25th, 2005 10:58 pm (UTC)From:man. And I used to think that way too :::shakes head:::
I've gotten good feels off of Episcopal churches too. they seem a lot more... accepting(?) then a lot of the other churches I can name-- and considering I am writing this from "heathen" califonia, that's saying a lot :) but then again, I really don't attend with some regularity and don't see the need to anytime soon :::shrug::: occasionaly is best.
so how many people were suprised that lightening didn't strike you when you walked through the door? ;) My HPS and I joke about that.
no subject
Date: Jul. 26th, 2005 01:13 pm (UTC)From:I grew up Episcopalian, and as Protestant faiths go it's about as easy-going and non-judgmental as you can get...more a social club with pretty rituals than an actual denomination.
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Date: Jul. 28th, 2005 01:56 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Jul. 28th, 2005 02:53 pm (UTC)From: