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?

I'm heading home today, thank God! I can't wait to see Luanne and the kids... I've had an amazing time here in Chicago, though. I'll write more about it in the next week or so.

It's been fun to be around the heart of the Covenant this week with all the buzz around Kathy Holmgren's Congo trip... It really is an amazing story.

Click here for the basics and then Google for the rest of the story.

I loved this article from the Washington Post. Could it be that our world is actually becoming a more peaceful place? According to the statistics, yes.

The new issue of Lark News is out. It's fantastic as usual. Check this out: They've actually named the Most Relevant Pastor in America.

On a very sad note, Joshua's teacher from last year, a long-time Roy Cloud teacher named Bonnie Scheppler, lost her battle with lung cancer on Saturday. Peace to her memory, and comfort to her friends and family. Josh and all the kids who are mourning her loss right now, too. God, rescue us from this cursed existence of flesh and sin and death. Thanks be to Jesus, who overcomes the world!