"You Must Be Jim" (My First Orthodox Service)

"Half a league, half a league, half a league, all in the valley of, "LIFE!" (with apologies to Lord Tennyson).

Never before did I experience the overwhelming presence of  "God" and life, as I did last night at my first Orthodox Service. And, why not?  This is Pascha, and this was Bright Monday Vespers.

I arrived at about 6:20 pm. for the 7 p.m. service, yes, 40 minutes early, I have a habit of being early for just about everything, a habit which annoys my wife. I sat in my car in the parking lot with wide eyed expectation. It brought back to me those childhood memories of  trying to sneak a peek out the window into the darkness of night on Dec. 24th. to get a glimpse of the fat guy in the red suit and his toy laden sleigh. Yes it seemed that wonderful!

At 6:52 I exited the vehicle and headed to the front doors. On my way I noticed a young man wearing a N.Y. Yankees t-shirt in the parking lot. Alright, Yankees, this is looking good. As I climbed the front steps, I paused ever so slightly as my gaze focused upon the door handle to the rich colored wooden doors.
What is waiting for me inside?   I thought.
Will this be the end of a journey? Will this be the beginning?   I pray that it would be both!
Will I find disappointment? Joy?

Deep breath, door open, take step, Oh my!

I am not even going to try and convey the total feeling of that first sight. The beauty of the Iconostasis, the fragrance of incense mixed with the smell of the lilies present, the low hush of people talking. Just let me say that the feeling was the same as seeing the porch light on as you come home. And, I am still standing in the narthex!

Another deep breath and somehow I managed to get my legs to work and I entered into the nave.
I sat down in the back (always a good hiding place), and from out of nowhere a woman sat down next to me and said, " You must be Jim!" "You have the advantage, " I replied. "Your friend Jim, Jim Vivanco told me that you would be coming tonight." she said.  (Well played sir!, I thought) She then handed me a book called " The Vespers of  Pascha" and gave me instructions on how to follow along. I quickly surmised, that I was in the company of the legendary Tammy, that I had read about in Jim Vivanco's blog. "Is Jim here?" she inquired. "No, at least I haven't seen him yet, his last message to me said for the most part that he was not sure that he could make it, but, that he would make Vespers on Saturday." I replied. "Oh well, I hope he does, by the way that is my husband John, up there in the front, he will come over and talk to you later" Tammy said.

Tammy left, and I sat for a moment or two flipping through the pages of the book that she had handed me. I began to pray silently. A few moments later, the congregation (I hope that is the right word for the folks) stood up as Father Gary began the service. Cool, this is what I came for.

It was a beautiful service, so completely different from the services at my church, and of course I expected it to be. It was a pure celebration of  the risen Lord and of life. Towards the end of the service these words were sung by the choir: "This is the day of the resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let us embrace each other. Let us call "Brothers" even those that hate us, and forgive all by the resurrection, and so let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life."


That knocked it out of the park for me. And this was Vespers, I can't wait to attend my first Divine Liturgy!

The magnificence of the icons, the sweet smell of the incense, the speaking/singing of Holy Prayers and the word of God. Just wonderful and Holy! The holy presence of God.

"The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted." (Psalm 18 : 46)

There were many times during the service that people were making the sign of the cross, I started to pick up on it and felt very comfortable, but truthfully I need to learn when the appropriate time to do so, last night I more or less just followed along and found myself doing it by feel. Hopefully no ordinances were broken by my behavior. At the end the people, kind of ushered themselves into an informal line and went around to the icons and kissed them. I stayed by my chair, not knowing, if it was proper for me to join in, I sure felt the urge to do so, but the "chicken" in me prevailed. If someone reading this blog can give me some instruction on this please do! Perhaps Jim will be able to "school" me a bit on Saturday. (He did not make it to the service last night ).

As I headed for the door, there was a priest standing by the door greeting people as they left. I had not noticed him before, I approached him and I could tell he wasn't sure about greeting me with "the Kiss of Peace" (I think that's what it is called? Help me out here someone, please) so we kind of shook hands. He and I stepped over to the side into the narthex and he said, " You must be Jim!" (Vivanco, again well played)
" Jim Vivanco said you'd be here tonight, I'm the guy who was a deacon and now I'm a priest, my name is Ken."  "Yes! Ken, I've read about you in Jim's blog, I'm honored Father Ken to meet you" We chatted a bit and then John came over and offered me a copy of the church's bulletin and a little bi-fold titled "Go Forth" and said that there was a very well written article in it that I may find interesting. I promised him that I would read it. (I did and he was right, it was written well and had a great message.)

Father Gary then came over to our little group which at this time also included a gentleman named Tom.
He reached out and shook my hand and said, "You must be Jim" (Vivanco! I thought again, this time my inner voice sounded like Jerry Seinfeld saying, "Newman!"). Yes, yes, I'm Jim, I replied. I had a short but wonderful conversation with Father Gary, who also introduced me to Reader and Choir Director Tim, who did not say, "you must be Jim", Vivanco must have missed him. We shared some quick stories about Staten Island, I grew up there and Reader Tim, now lives there.

Well the time had come for me to leave and I took the initiative to say goodnight, and I gave Father Gary the "kiss of peace" he  said, "Well! it seems that you got that down already!" "Yes, I believe I am going to very comfortable here," I said, "and this Saturday at Vespers, if Jim is here I'll have someone to show me when to make the sign of the cross and keep reminding to go from right to left!"

Dear reader, I felt totally blessed, a bit confused as to when to do certain things, but was absolutely in awe of the message and the presence of GOD.  All Praise and Glory to Him!