Thoughts on Holy Week
I had an amazing Holy Week. Emotionally, I was pretty much been all over the place: annoyed, sad, giddy, elated. I attended Pascha Services this past week that I have never attended live in my life--Last Friday of Lent, Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday morning and evening hours. We had beautiful Covenant Thursday and Good Friday services. I feel incredibly blessed.One of the very special things about our Pascha Prayers is that there are chanted verses from various Psalms before the reading of the Gospel each hour. When I was a kid, I would be just fascinated by this portion of the prayers. Now the wonder is still there, but I also look to give that time purpose. [Update--I now use the Holy Week Journal]I spend the time applying the words to my life as messages from God--admonition, reassurance, reminder, or revival. I pray the words, respond to them or expand on them through journal writing. I have a friend who also uses the time to memorize the verses.I am also loving that despite his priesthood my husband still gets to chants the Psalm sometimes. I don't know why I didn't expect that at all! I guess I figured that's not usually Abouna's job... But I was so so so excited the first time he got up there.Though I feel like I am quickly adjusting to my new church's way of doing things, there are some specific things that I miss from my old church. I miss the particular way we used to say the second verse of the Pascha Praise in Arabic and English long-form. I also miss saying the second verse of the paschal version of the hymn Epouro (O King of Peace) in Arabic... In English we say, "Disperse the enemies of the Church. Fortify her that she may not be shaken forever." The Arabic for "she may not be shaken" is "la tataza3za3." It sounds as hilarious as it looks... until you realize that it's incredibly onomatopoetic. A church full of Egyptians sing-shouting "la tataza3za3" literally shakes!In other news, I was completely eaten by mosquitos. I am apparently delicious; I got at least one new bug bite every day. Welcome, spring :)!