(no subject)
I attended the midnight mass at the cathedral of St. Andrew last night, as the last Advent service at Mars Hill was canceled and I wanted to realign my focus to God during the last bit of Christmas Eve. The thing is, every time I attend a Catholic service I end up almost overwhelmed by my own distracted thoughts about how the Church came to operate in such a manner. Not having grown up with any church tradition, I discovered Christ mainly through simply reading the gospels (with help from C.S. Lewis), and it's really hard for me to comprehend how God's Church progressed from the way it was in the gospels to Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism - and that probably sounds incredibly ignorant, as those are the traditions that have been around the longest. But sitting in on a Catholic service like that makes me want to understand how the Church got to where it is now, and that's a lot of history to sort through. I have done a lot of reading on Church history recently, but I've barely skimmed the surface and there is a lot that I don't know or understand.
However, despite being distracted at times by the magnificence of the building and the clothing of the bishop who gave the homily and thinking about the fact that I couldn't participate in Communion because I'm not Catholic, it was a really beautiful service. It helped me to physically set Christmas on its own pedestal, separate from the gift-giving aspect and as a time to devote to God in an attitude of joy and thankfulness.
It is so nice to have these days off from work. My boss from my German translation job called yesterday and needs my help on an order, so I get to do a job I really enjoy on my days off, which I'm looking forward to. The extra cash will be nice too, as we have a long road trip coming up for a friend's wedding in Kentucky. I'm very much looking forward to that as well.
And my dad got me an adapter for my keyboard, so I can finally play again! We've been at my parents' all day just relaxing and playing Monopoly, which I always lose, but it has been really nice. My mom got us really good cheese and summer sausage and Meijer gift cards. I really miss my extended family, but I guess it just didn't work out for us to go to my aunt's this year, so I'll have to visit them another time.
2009 is coming.
However, despite being distracted at times by the magnificence of the building and the clothing of the bishop who gave the homily and thinking about the fact that I couldn't participate in Communion because I'm not Catholic, it was a really beautiful service. It helped me to physically set Christmas on its own pedestal, separate from the gift-giving aspect and as a time to devote to God in an attitude of joy and thankfulness.
It is so nice to have these days off from work. My boss from my German translation job called yesterday and needs my help on an order, so I get to do a job I really enjoy on my days off, which I'm looking forward to. The extra cash will be nice too, as we have a long road trip coming up for a friend's wedding in Kentucky. I'm very much looking forward to that as well.
And my dad got me an adapter for my keyboard, so I can finally play again! We've been at my parents' all day just relaxing and playing Monopoly, which I always lose, but it has been really nice. My mom got us really good cheese and summer sausage and Meijer gift cards. I really miss my extended family, but I guess it just didn't work out for us to go to my aunt's this year, so I'll have to visit them another time.
2009 is coming.