Blessed, No Matter How Big

Palm Sunday was really neat. The church was packed, as was the choir loft. The choir swelled to about 21 people. Mind you, this choir can fill the room with the more usual 8-10 people, so the sound was huge, and I loved it! I also loved knowing that I probably couldn't be heard even if I belted the music out. That's really nice when at least some of the music is brand new most Sundays.

As we were filing out of the church, we were given blessed palm crosses by the priest. Well, bits of them, anyway. There were so many people there that by the time we meandered out (the choir members are usually the last to leave since we sing while other people are walking out) Father had resorted to cutting the palm crosses up. Daniel got 3/4 of a cross, and I got a little segment of palm about an inch or so long with Father's apologies and his promises to make more crosses next year. As he put it: it's blessed, no matter how big it is!

After church, there was a free luncheon of fish, potatoes, fruit salad, a sort of dairy-less coleslaw and assorted beverages. We sat with an Ethiopian couple who have two adorable little girls (4 years and 11 months) and happen to live right up the street from us -- literally on our same street. I hope we get the opportunity to get to know them better. I think they usually attend the Ethiopian church in High Point, but they do come to the Greek Church for some services. It was nice to meet an Orthodox couple with young kids, since it doesn't happen too often for us here.

After church we also received an invitation to join a choir member's family gathering this next Sunday for Pascha dinner. That was really nice -- and unexpected. We probably would have been having a rather quiet Pascha at home with something easy to cook. Now, instead, we'll have to have pleasant company and leg of lamb! (I think we'll live!)

I think I counted 17 services at church this week for Holy Week. We've missed one last night already, and considering that Daniel looked more zombie than man this morning after a very rare-for-him fitful night, I have a feeling we may miss tonight's service as well. Ah well, be that as it may, I think we will still have reminders aplenty that we are looking towards the cross and the glorious resurrection this week, whether or not Daniel appears at a chanter stand and I appear in a pew.

We'll be making a special effort to attend all of the services towards the end of the week, and Daniel has taken Friday off from work to that end. We'll also be attending on Wednesday night for sure, as our bishop, whom we have yet to meet, will be present for that service.

The time away from church will hardly be wasted, though... while at home, we're going to be spending time working on learning some of the 60 or so pages of music (some of it in Greek) that will be sung late this week with settings that are new to us or just modified from what we are used to singing. That learning itself is an undertaking, especially since the choir only rehearsed some of it, of which most was sung through only once at our single holy week preparation rehearsal. That's no big deal for the majority of the choir members, but for a newbie, it means a whole lot of music that has to be learned in a huge hurry, especially since much of the music will be sung after midnight on Saturday when the brain cells are not typically at top form and when the other aspects of the service will be overwhelming the senses.

Another lovely little surprise this week came from our Russian-Jewish neighbors. They gave us a baby-themed "your first Easter" card with best wishes and congratulations for our whole family in heartfelt broken English. It was one of the sweetest Easter greetings I have ever received, and it was also a good reminder of something I believe anyway: this really is our baby's first Easter. At this point, he can hear, and he eats whatever I am eating. He'll be at whatever services I attend. He'll be experiencing at least part of the feast right where he is.

Most of all, the joyful truth of Pascha and Christ's triumph over sin and death is a promise for our unborn child as much as it is to any of us who happen to have already been born. We must not underestimate that. After all, St. John the Baptist leaped in the womb when the Virgin Mary came to visit. Perhaps it is a bit like Father said about the palms... we are all blessed, no matter how big we are.