church
After months of setting my alarm and hitting snooze, I finally worked up enough willpower to get out of bed and go to church. Maybe it was the added spark I got from watching the Da Vinci Code this week - maybe it was just damn time! - but I arrived at the Catedral Anglicana de San Juan Bautista (a journey from my neighborhood) at 8:30, excited to attend my first church service in 6 months. This anticipation dropped when the priest told me THIS Sunday was a special day and services would begin at 10:00.
I was determined so I waited outside in freezing cold temperatures for an hour and a half. At 10:00 I went in and what a beauty! Found in 1841, the church is the oldest Anglican Cathedral in South America. It is humble size but grand in aesthetics. The altar is wooden and carved with different traditions from Argentina. There are massive columns. - Simply soothing to sit in.
For the first part of the service I cried. I must have cried for 20 minutes. I sat in the back of the church, in the pews where the homeless sat (who made up half of the congregation). I think this testifies to the amazing services the Cathedral provides, as it is known in the city for feeding the poor. This factor, combined with a congregation speaking the exact prayers but in another language made me think of what exactly a community of believers is - and should be.
The priest, who obviously speaks Castellano as a second language, spoke to me before and after the service. I found his message very inspiring: A sermon on the significance of Jesus being seated at the right hand of God. His answer was relation, what I believe is the most important (and most forgetten) aspect of Christian theology. He told of how before Jesus no one could penetrate the clouds that covered God and Heaven, but Jesus`death and resurrection removed them such barriers. Jesus showed us that God is not so transcendent and unapproachable. This big change has helped Christians throughout history to ACTIVELY "seek those things that are above, where Christ is." And by this statement, the priest hoped the church would remember this in their actions and remember the power of the church for good deeds. This is something I thought was abundantly made clear in my visit, considering the close relation the church holds with the homeless community.
After the service, the priest invited me to coffee and dessert with the congregation. I met some really nice Argentines - got invited to watch Tango with a pair of professional Tango competitors and talked with a struggling old man from the street with a huge bulging knot on his head that I assume must be a bad medical condition that he cannot attend to.
All in all the day was very uplifting for my spirits. It`s nice to sit, watch, and listen to people of any faith but it is especially touching when I share the same.
*As a sidenote: This has been an intense week for my Spanish skills. I hung out with my Argentine friends Friday night and spoke the entire time in Spanish. We hung out at their apartment, ordering food and playing cards until 3:30 in the morning when it was time to hit the clubs (...an invitation I declined). And today at church was another day in all Spanish. I think I`m finally experiencing Argentina full throttle!
