Saturday was no ordinary day for me and my two interns. We are planning several “worship field trips” throughout the summer, and Saturday was our first. We went to Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in San Francisco for the 6pm Vigil (Vespers & Matins) Service. What I realized on Friday was that this weekend was the Gay Pride Festival. Things would be crazy. We decided to take BART into the City and then take a MUNI bus to the cathedral. Sure enough, as we came up into the SF Civic Center, we could see lots of “alternative” types on their way to the Festival. Just about two blocks away, we could see Market St. blocked off and some kind of big party happening…

Long story short, we missed our first bus. We burst into the Cathedral a few minutes late, and all of a sudden it was like being in an alternate universe. The City was a distant memory as we experienced an entirely-sung liturgy… Four-part harmony throughout. A huge, beautiful iconostasis (look it up) in the front, a silver chandelier given to the church by the last tsar of Russia… Vestments and incense, candles and oil… The only thing that broke the mood were the occasional motorcycles or ambulances roaring by outside the walls. We spoke with some of the leaders afterwards and got at least a little insight into the Orthodox faith and its traditions.

Then we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf and had fresh crab, calamari and clam chowder in bread bowls. In the freezing cold wind… with no jackets. Basically sitting on the street. Welcome to San Francisco, Melissa and Jusin! J And then catching a bus to Civic Center, where we walked through the remnants of the Pride Festival and prayed for people. (A main stage for all the performers and a huge banner commemorating 25 years of AIDS... Booths where you could meet your favorite gay porn stars... Everything dark and quiet as we walked through around 9:30... Like a ghost town. Dead and empty...)You know, when you strip it down to basics… people just want to be loved and accepted for who they are. In our brokenness, we express that in all kinds of sinful ways, but we’re all the same deep down. I pray for freedom and healing for the sexually broken… and for Christians to LOVE AND ACCEPT them and show them the way to Jesus…

Then we got off at the wrong station, so we had to wait for another train to take us to Colma, where my car was parked. The funny thing was, as we wandered around the Daly City station, we were absolutely convinced that we were in the right place, and if we just looked hard enough or walked around long enough, we would find the car. Surely... it must be around this wall... or up this staircase... but we weren't even at the right STATION!

Looking back, it strikes me that the LGBT community in San Francisco is so convinced that they have found true happiness, true acceptance... and in a sense, they have... There is real love, acceptance, and happiness to be found there. But it pales in comparison with the love, acceptance and happiness to be found in the Body of Christ and in living a life in harmony with the way God designed us to live.

The Orthodox Church, with all of its smells and bells, is so convinced that it is the only true church, the only apostolic form of worship, the only faithful and true church. And it was beautiful, no doubt. It was otherworldly and ethereal. But it seemed to me so removed from reality, so out-of-context. It made me sad that there were only maybe 10-12 people there in addition to us. (And that included four choir members and two clergy.) Is the only true church really this small?

What am I convinced of that will prove to be false in the end? How about you?

Sara Groves is an amazing singer/songwriter. I have everything she's ever recorded, including her indie album, her web-only children's album, and her iTunes live set. Most of her work is great, but there are some songs that are absolutely brilliant... and some that have been transformational for me: Painting Pictures of Egypt, The Word, Conversations, Generations, Less Like Scars, Every Minute, Maybe There's a Loving God, Remember Surrender and Compelled...

Let's put this one in the "Dream Come True" category:

I'm always behind in my blogging, but I thought I'd write about my last gig... Ugur and I played the Koinonia Koffeehouse in Campbell, and it was really great. We played about 45 minutes... a mix of old and new... debuted our new song called "Over Me" and had a lot of fun. We opened for a guy named Bard Sherman... He is a trip! Very experimental stuff. Jazz/blues/newage stuff. Spoken word. Some Prog-like stuff. He had played for an hour almost when we realized he had only played four songs!

One of the more interesting things about his band was his bassist... San Francisco 49er and former Notre Dame Fighting Irish player Bryant Young. He was playing live for the first time. Very cool. He's a nice guy, very down-to-earth and friendly. It's funny... I'm not a sports fan at all... Wouldn't have recognized him. But some of my friends are really excited that I got to meet him. I'll have to watch a game now and then and check out my new friend.

The Matt Nightingale Band is coming together. This summer's incarnation includes Moi on keys and vocals, Ugur Taner on guitar, Brad Ciraulo on guitar, Steve Young on bass, and Geoff Anderson on drums. It's really fun to play live with a full band! We are leading worship tomorrow night at Recovery Rocks in San Carlos. Then we're playing Koinonia again July 21 and then opening for Sara Groves at PCC the very next night, the 22nd! Should be awesome...

My summer interns are here. Melissa from Iowa and Justin from Michigan. We're still in the "get-to-know-you phase," but I think it's gonna be great.

Have you checked out La La yet? I heart La La. And I still have eight invitations left if you'd like to join before it goes public on July 4. The first 8 people to email me at matt@mattnightingale.net will receive special invitations to join...

Hmmm... What else? I've been listening to a lot of Dar Williams lately. What an amazing writer and singer! I had some of her CDs before and got rid of them. Now I'm on a hunt to get them all back. I have them all except her latest, "My Better Self."

Went bowling with the kids today. Then swimming in the afternoon. That was nice. It was 100 degrees in Redwood City today...

You should meet our new pet Spike. He's a bearded dragon. He's only four inches long, but he's supposed to grow to at least 20 inches long in the next few years. He's awesome.

OK, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here for things to write about. Peace out.

Luanne and I had the amazing opportunity a few weeks back to get away - just the two of us - on a pastor's retreat hosted by the Pastor's Retreat Network. It's a wonderful organization that allows pastors and their spouses to get away for a full week and just be with one another and God. All we had to do was get ourselves there and they take care of everything else... all food and lodging is free. What a gift! To get away from our crazy lives here in the Bay Area and just be. Our hosts, David and Karen Camp, were wonderful... Basically, they took care of our needs, suggested a program of reading and time with God, and then got out of the way! They were great about reminding us to let God direct our time. If we never got to the readings, we were not made to feel guilty... It was time for us. Amazing.

We would spend hours just sitting on a dock by the river and reading or talking or just being silent. Luanne spent some time fishing (and actually caught one), and we went out on the canoe several times. We went down the Rio Frio ("Cold River") on inner tubes and I almost got killed by a water snake. OK, I thought I was going to be killed. If there are any pastors reading this, you really owe it to yourself: Check out this opportunity.

I got to see my best friend from my college days, Curt, and his sweet family. They live in Austin, and Curt is the mad genius behind The Happy Husband.

One of the most fun things about our trip was flying Zach and Emmy down to their grandparents' house in LA... It was Zach's first trip on an airplane and the boy was beside himself with excitement. He couldn't stop exclaiming, every few seconds, "DAD! LOOK..." and then pointing at something. If you know my son, you know his voice, uh... carries. It was so cute.

We are grateful to the Gapastiones for watching the big boys... A little taste of parenthood for them!

Now when I say we got away, I really mean it. We were in Vanderpool, Texas. Population 20. I'm not kidding; look it up. Way out in the Texas Hill Country northwest of San Antonio. Closest "big" city is Kerrville.

To wrap this up, here's a picture that says it all: