Sunday, Sunday

We went to church this morning at an Anglican Church, St. Michaels, in our neighborhood. I think I may be destined against all my efforts to be consigned to a high church existence. This worship service had all the bells and chanting and incense. I think next time we go, I'll need to take an antihistamine beforehand. However, I have to admit that during communion when the smoke from the incense mixed with the light that was coming in from the high windows, it really did look like an effect from a movie where the director was trying to get a visual of the Holy Spirit hovering over the bread and the wine. Pretty powerful stuff

Of course, the difference in worship style often caused my mind to wander away from God. When the Gospel was read, a group of people processed the Bible to the center of the church and the priest read from it and then kissed the page. Instead of reflecting on the beauty of Mary's magnificat (which was the reading), I could only think that if I read the Gospel that way, I'd have to make sure not to put on lipstick on Sunday mornings.

Even though it's a little too much pomp and circumstance for me, the sermon was good and the priest engaging. Plus there is a woman priest who also preaches. It seems as if they have a great children's program and even an active children's choir. And the fact that it is so close to our house is a real plus. It is such a travel ordeal for Skip to get to work five days a week, we really need an easy trip to church on Sundays for it to truly be a day of rest for him.

On a completely different note, for fans of the Friends series, I discovered that we have our very own Ugly Naked Guy. At least we have an Ugly Half-Naked Guy. There is one room at the top of the house where the roof comes together. This room gets warm in the middle of the day, but there are windows on both sides so you can get a nice cross breeze going. I was up there after church still trying to get our stuff organized and looked out one of the windows when I opened it. Directly across the street, there was man without a shirt on sitting at his table right by his own open window reading a paper. It was not pretty. Such are the views in the big city.

On a follow-up to the driving, we made a dry run out to Maddie's school and I'm happy to report it's a much easier drive than the route we took yesterday to a shop. I feel pretty good about being able to get Maddie to orientation and about getting her if she's ever sick or has an after school activity. This left-side driving is still a little dicey, but it does seem to get easier each time.