Easter notes

I had a very interesting Easter weekend. We went to Ohio for the weekend to celebrate longstrider’s grandmother’s 90th birthday as well as his uncle’s birthday, which wasn’t a significant number, but happened to also be this weekend. This is the third time in three months that we’ve gathered with this side of the family, and it was nice to have a happy reason to get together for once. We took nature walks, talked politics, ate huge amounts of ice cream (there were six half-gallon cartons of ice cream when we got there, and we diminished an appalling amount of it), and ate lots of good food. And I even got reading done. It was hard to visit without Brook's grandfather there - I found I couldn't bring myself to sit in the chair that he sat in most often.

The most interesting part of the weekend for me turned out to be church. longstrider’s cousin has been going to an Orthodox church and wanted to go to the midnight liturgy at an Orthodox church in Dayton. This interest in Orthodoxy is somewhat appalling to her Quaker father, but he agreed to go with her at 11:00 pm, and I decided I was interested in seeing how the Eastern half of Christianity celebrates Easter. So we went out late that night to a beautiful, dimly lit church and listened to the choir sing the liturgy before midnight. Then, at midnight we all lit candles and the priests led a procession around the outside of the church. When we went back into the sanctuary, the lights were fully on, because it was now Easter. Apparently the service goes on until 3am, but we snuck out around 12:30. It was a beautiful and interesting service, which was all the more interesting for the fact that it was scripted 1500 years ago.

In a complete contrast, ten hours later I was sitting in a Quaker meeting. I don't think it would be enough for me every week, but I always enjoy going to meeting when I'm with Brook's family.

Although I spent most of the weekend at church, it didn't quite feel like Easter because I didn't go to my church. It doesn't seem like Easter without the right hymns somehow. But I did get a hot cross bun, which I don't think I've had since I graduated from high school. My father used to make them every year for Easter, but I haven't been home for most Easters, and he can't bake anymore. I should get his recipe so I can start making them myself.

More studying to do now. I can't quite believe that Purdue, a school that doesn't even have a religion major, has more books on Margery Kempe than my seminary, but since longstrider was kind enough to bring them to me, I shan't quibble. Back to the 15th century for me.