Oakland Expedition #6: Going to Church

I am so excited, I can hardly type! The greeter at church today introduced herself to me, "I'm Roseline Onu." "Onu?" I asked. "Is that Nigerian?" "Yes," she seemed a tad bit surprised. We chatted both before and after the service. She and her husband have some friends in Abuja. She's going to contact them to ask them to pick me up from the airport in Abuja, to help me find a place to stay and to show me around when I get there! That's so wonderful!

I got to talk to Mr. Onu a bit, too. One of their daughters is starting college in the fall. She was almost going to go to Vanderbilt, but then Cal gave her a really good offer, so she's staying here. I also had a chance to speak to the interim pastor during coffee hour. He just returned from visiting his family back in Durban (South Africa). And one of the ladies I met last week, Cathie, went to fashion design school. She gave me some tips for cutting pinstripes so the stripes line-up. Yay! Everyone I've met there is really nice and very interesting.

My church-going was sporadic in Nashville, to say the least. I just couldn't find a place I really liked. This place is wonderful, and it was the first place I tried! It's a Presbyterian church, 128 years old. You can see it in the windows where the glass has dripped. It looks like those old house we tour on vacation. The congregation's small (yes Mommy, smaller than Tippie), but so is the sanctuary, so it works nicely. After all, this is the Bay Area, church isn't exactly the "cool" thing to do. The pews are set up in a circle around the pulpit. That's kind of neat. And it's beautiful inside. Dark, hard wood, wrought iron light fixtures, beautiful pipe organ, high ceiling.

The service has a nice mix of things. Traditional hymns from the 1976 hymnal (no Lord of the Dance, though, sadness), and a short time where we sing three "praise" songs. Normally, I don't like churches where they do "praise" songs, but here it's ok. There's only 3; we only sing each one through twice; they're all sung together; and most importantly, it's only a piano playing, no guitars or drums. Sometimes, I even know the songs from The Little Green Tape! No choir, but it's summer so that's common. The lead singing person has this beautiful deep voice. I think as deep as Nelson's. (Her voice is described on a website as "mellow bass.") And she's really good. Lot's of different people participate in the service, for the readings and stuff. And for Communion, they pass around silver trays with little cubes of bread or tiny thimble glasses of grape juice. Just like Tippie :) I'm so happy I found a nice church home here.

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Bed

Cheerful

Near the Cross - Nathan Nyirenda