First Sunday in Lent, February 26th, 2023
This was another early morning dash to the Upper West Side, hoping that the subways system would hew to a half-way predictable weekend schedule. Miraculously, it did and I landed in one of the back pews at Si. Mike's even before the CrossTeam had assembled. Join Us beckoned me to move my seat further to the front, but I had a small agenda in mind. I knew that a young API couple had made their home in the vicinity of that pew and I wanted to check out the possibilities of making friends with them. They're bright-eyed, Ivy grads and the husband has the added value of being a sociologist. To him, everyone is a potential subject.
I mistook it for friendliness when our eyes first met a few weeks ago, but that was a one off when his wife happened to not be in church one morning. I've since found them both chatty and engaging table partners when the occasion calls for it, but otherwise, they beat a hasty retreat home once the Benediction has been given.
My impressions were confirmed when they arrived a little after I did, picking the pew right in front of mine. Interestingly, the three of us were the only three people for what seemed many rows of pews who took the trouble to wear N95 masks - or masks of any kind, for that matter. But i could read some level of smiling in their eyes when they turned to greet me.
That proved to be the last connection between us for the balance of the service. They sang the same songs and repeated the same prayers that i did, but there was no indication that they derived any special pleasure from the association. It reminded me all to well of the experience of the gay couple from my parents' home town in southern Virginia. They endured a year of attending St. Mike's, fending off all my attmepts to bait them into discussions of what it must be like to be a gay white in that part of the country - before pulling up stakes and heading to a posher, less agressively friendly, parish near Wall Street.
I spent the rest of the Lenten oriented service listening to The Rector's sermon and trying to make sense of it. It again struck me that almost all of her homilies are Lent oriented and that they are generally telling us to stop complaining, come to church and be active. Pale Male and I couldn't wait to get to Dive bar and in heading out, i looked back and saw the West Asian young, API couple not far behind us.
I mistook it for friendliness when our eyes first met a few weeks ago, but that was a one off when his wife happened to not be in church one morning. I've since found them both chatty and engaging table partners when the occasion calls for it, but otherwise, they beat a hasty retreat home once the Benediction has been given.
My impressions were confirmed when they arrived a little after I did, picking the pew right in front of mine. Interestingly, the three of us were the only three people for what seemed many rows of pews who took the trouble to wear N95 masks - or masks of any kind, for that matter. But i could read some level of smiling in their eyes when they turned to greet me.
That proved to be the last connection between us for the balance of the service. They sang the same songs and repeated the same prayers that i did, but there was no indication that they derived any special pleasure from the association. It reminded me all to well of the experience of the gay couple from my parents' home town in southern Virginia. They endured a year of attending St. Mike's, fending off all my attmepts to bait them into discussions of what it must be like to be a gay white in that part of the country - before pulling up stakes and heading to a posher, less agressively friendly, parish near Wall Street.
I spent the rest of the Lenten oriented service listening to The Rector's sermon and trying to make sense of it. It again struck me that almost all of her homilies are Lent oriented and that they are generally telling us to stop complaining, come to church and be active. Pale Male and I couldn't wait to get to Dive bar and in heading out, i looked back and saw the West Asian young, API couple not far behind us.