this morning i went with dave's host mom, who is christian, to easter morning services at her evangelical church. i've had a very diverse springtime religious experience, i guess you could say.
earlier in the week we had a passover seder at SIT. ben led the meal/service/i don't know what exactly you call it, and he did a GREAT JOB (ben, if you're reading this, you did a great job!!). he also did something that almost made me cry. traditionally, at the end of the seder, you say "next year in jerusalem" in hebrew. but he changed it slightly to say "next year in jerusalem...for everyone." also, i found the afikoman, which is half of a piece of matzah that the oldest memeber of the family hides somewhere in the house for all the kids to find. mabrook to me!
so yeah today i went to church for easter services and learned how to say "god is risen" and "risen indeed" in arabic: "al-misah (messiah i guess) qam" and "haqqan qam!" so that's neat. dave's mom, nancy, is this tiny little woman, seriously no more than 4'10", and it's funny because everyone we met at the church thought that i was her daughter. HA. we arrived at 5 min. to 10:00, and the service started at 10, and we were literally the only people in the church. nancy started to get a little upset. she said "time is sacred," that people here seem to take their sweet time and always show up late to church.
anyway, the service started with "god is risen" in ARABIC! i followed along in the hymn book and actually was able to keep up and follow along with most of it, at least the chorus. the entire service actually was in arabic, so that made it sort of boring as i couldn't understand any of it except for "allah" and "amen." but nancy wants me to come with her next sunday (i think she thinks i'm a lot more religious than i actually am, which is like 2% religious) and she says next time we will sit in the back so she can whisper me a translation of the sermon.
she kept on mentioning how "david's father is a jew" which i already knew. then she gave me a copy of the new testament that has both the english and the arabic (again, thinking i actually read the bible), and then told me to give it to dave after. she "really wants him to read it."
sadly, this easter didn't have the usual flair that i'm used to at home, the kind that i haven't had since going to college. i miss getting dressed up in springtime church wear and walking down to piedmont community church and seeing everyone and everyone's parents and cousins and grandparents in their easter best, and getting my toes wet from lawn sprinklers on the way. and if we go up oakland ave and down pacific insteadand of down oakland ave and across on highland we pass by the rosemary which wafts into the warm spring air. and PCC is just the right size and the stained glass makes the morning light dance and the sermon is always lively and energetic. and the music is amazing because the piedmont church choir is unbelievable and easter music is so joyful and the organ must somehow be a little bit magical because every time i hear it it makes me with that i were a better christian, which means i wish that i were a christian (in my heart, not by birth) at all. this service only had a piano, no small instrument, but def not a church organ. easter always fills me with hope. sadly, today i didn't quite get that same feeling.
however, it is a beautiful spring day, and there is something to be said for that.
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