Sunday 10/10/10

This Sunday Ryan and I were in Asheville, NC for a friend's wedding.  We had the very cool opportunity to attend The Cathedral of All Souls Episcopal Church www.allsoulscathedral.org.  This church was built in 1896 funded by George Vanderbuilt. The whole thing is original, glass, pews, flooring.  It's really incredible to look at, you can just feel the years and years of prayers in this building.  The wedding was at noon so we went to the 7:45 a.m. worship service.  Since it's in a beautiful area of North Carolina and an old building all of their fellowship announcements and sign ups and things were outside of the church building in the outside entrance way.  I thought this was symbolic because it's all those things that connect you with the world outside the church building.  Being the earliest service there was no music at this service, which was really different for Ryan and I (being Lutheran).  It was also different because we were carrying no children to worship.

The service mirrored the Lutheran liturgy as we would expect, however the Confession and Forgiveness came after the sermon and prayers. I'd be interested to find out how it got to its different points in the worship service. The sermon was given by Lauren Winner, professor at Duke Divinity school and author of Girl Meets God. She preached on the exile text in Jeremiah 29.  She first talked about how it's easy for us to connect with the Israelite, but sometimes we may be the Babylonians.  Then God used her to hit Ryan and I straight in the heart.  She talked about metaphorical exiles. She named infertility as one of those.  Ryan and I experienced our fourth miscarriage on August 30th. The fact that it was mentioned by name caused Ryan and I to turn to each other, grasp hands, and drop tears. Next she reminded us of God's promise to care for us, even when we're in exile. We needed to hear that.

We had communion, which was interesting in the quiet, and really, very nice. And we left in silence. It was a very reflective, meditative service.  I enjoyed it.  Ryan and I laughed as we walked back to our hotel knowing that God is messing with us down to our very core.  It's comforting to know that God is working in the tough situations and nice that He is clearly making it known to us.  It's also aggravating, because of my very nature that would like to have the answers right now. I know that's not possible, so until those answers reveal itself, I will remain renewed in the promise.