Holy Sunshine On My Soul, My 1st Divine Liturgy

Gray skies in the natural, heavenly blue skies in the spiritual. That is how my day began yesterday Sunday May 6th. The skies at the New Jersey shore were advertising rain with its' thick gray cover, but I don't believe that any "perfect storm" would have been able to keep me away from attending my first Orthodox Divine Liturgy.

There were a couple of elements at play here.

First, there is personal history. Almost 21 years ago to the day, (in fact only a day short of) on May 7th, 1991 I attended a "Revival Service", at The Church of the Nazarene in Toms River, N.J., my first such, in fact up until a few days before that I had never even been to a service at a Protestant Church. That night I had what is called my "born again" experience. Well, now 21 years later, I have had my "Welcome Home" experience. In our American culture the law of the land says for the most part, that a person is not considered to be an adult in "all things" until they reach the age of 21.  Well, "Happy Birthday to me!"
So at the ripe old "spiritual age" (if you would allow me to use that parlance)  (come to think of it, "phrase" is probably the correct term, but I just never seem to get to use the word "parlance" enough, so I am going for it here) of 21, I have come home to where all of us (mankind) were intended to be, the Holy Orthodox Church. Amen!

As noted in my last post, I for the most part travel by motorcycle, however, there are times when the weather conditions can cause this method of travel to be, shall we say a bit "uncomfortable". Heavy rain being such.
Since my wife is not accompanying me (yet! :>) ) and is continuing to attend church where we "both used" to go, she needs the car, as she does not ride motorcycles. This makes weather watching something of an "Olympic Sport" in the Martin household. If I must go somewhere and the motorcycle is the only option, I make the best of it, and go, I ride all winter long. And, yes, its' cold and at times wet, so be it!

So a heavy gray sky, is actually, not scary enough to keep me away from stuff, especially my first Divine Liturgy.

I arrived early (no kidding!) at about 9: 40 a.m., and after the veneration of icons, I took a seat behind some folks that Fr. Gary was speaking to, I just assumed it was the Adult Class that I have seen listed on the church website and I listened quietly. There was some interaction and it seemed pretty good. Within a few moments Fr. Gary prayed and left us, and the service began some minutes later.

Taking a cue from Jim V. at  the Vespers Service the night before, I had earlier picked up a copy of the "Divine Liturgy Service" from the counter in the Narthex. It was a big help. The service was wonderful!
I felt I had entered into a state of holy worship that I just never really experienced before, even though there were times that I had to refer to the service book, I was never was "pulled" away from being involved in worship. There were times when hymns were being sung and the words were not in the book and they were unknown, still, that did not make a difference, I just closed my eyes at times and spoke to God silently, what a blessing! Everything that took place in the service in regards to what the clergy did I was able to understand and follow, again thanks to the service book. I found that I only had to glance occasionally at the book and never did I have to "bury" my head in it. I think my reading of the book "Let Us Attend, A Journey through the Orthodox Divine Liturgy" really paid off, so glad I read it. This week I am re-reading it and connecting what I felt, saw and heard at the service, to help increase my understanding.

Okay, so now here are some things I have questions on. There were 2 tables placed during the service up front on each side of the room. Upon these tables were placed communion trays that contained pieces of bread (I assume this is the Friendship bread?) and what I know as communion cups with what appeared to be wine in them. During the Reception of Holy Communion, some people after they have received would go over to these trays and eat some bread and take a drink from one of the cups. A woman came to me and offered me a piece of bread, since I of course did not go up to receive and stayed at my seat. I took it and thanked her. I had noticed that some others who did not go up to receive were also given bread by other people. These other folks ate their bread piece right away, so I did the same. NOW another woman came to me with another piece of bread and I was unsure if it was okay to "double up" on the bread so I said, that I had already had some and she smiled, I smiled back and off she went, I did not turn around to see if she was still smiling, as I was hoping that I did not offend her. Then, I noticed that a gentleman in front of me who been given bread previously (he was one of the folks who did not go up to receive) by someone also, accepted another piece of bread. Just, then an elderly gentleman offered me a piece (this would be my second) and seeing that the guy in front of me had 2, I accepted the second piece. So now, I held on to this piece and I decided to make it visible (without trying to make it look so ) in my hand to any other folks who come my way offering bread and thus keep me from doing something that my offend someone. I truly want to be blessed, as well as be, a blessing to this my new family (though I guess we are all already family, since God is our Father, are we not?) but I am afraid of doing the wrong thing at times. So, there I am, standing there, clutching onto my second piece of bread and watching people passing by the tray of bread and cups. Finally the last person goes past, does not pick up a piece of bread from the tray, taking that as my cue that all is clear, I eat the bread that I was holding on to.

Can someone explain all this?  My thoughts are that this is a sign of "hospitality" is this right? If I don't accept bread, am I offending the giver?

After I had left the church building and was putting my motorcycle helmet on in the parking lot, 2 women, approached me, and reminded me, that there was coffee in the building next to the church. I thanked them but said that I wanted to get going in case the weather got bad. They said, "Next week then!" I said, "Absolutely!"

In a way, I am glad that I did not stay, I just needed to go home and "process" this wonderful feeling that I felt inside of  me. No gray skies here , just a feeling of  "Holy Sunshine On My Soul", Thank you Lord.