Dignity/Washington DC

I got in late last night from Atlanta, GA and my first AAAS conference (more on the conference later) which meant that I wasn't able to go to the nearby Dignity service. Instead, I decided today to trek to Dupont Circle and check out the Sunday evening service that Dignity/Washington holds at St. Margaret's Church (1820 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20009)

First, I have to say, St. Margaret's is a beautiful church. As I was walking along Connecticut Avenue looking for the church, its bells began ringing the hour, calling to me. Inside, the predominance of the stained glassed window over the altar as well as the organ pipes drew me in--I didn't even mind so much this week that there was no crucifix (St. Margaret's is an Episcopal Church). The red cushions on the wooden pews added to the warmth of the setting, too.

What was most amazing, though, was the music and singing. I've been getting back to music lately (thanks to the hand-me-down ipod I got from my kuya this past Christmas), and I love it--I can't believe that I had let it slip away from me as much as I did. I might consume fiction novels heartily, but I definitely don't have the same steady diet of poetry. (And here I'm conflating music and poetry.) I've really only read poetry in fits and starts most of my life. I can still remember, though, lunches in the library in high school reading W.H. Auden (whose writing I sought out after I saw the eulogy "Stop the Clocks" in Four Weddings and a Funeral), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Lord Alfred Tennyson. It's amazing how even then my subconscious had already been coerced into reading "canonical" dead white guys. But I digress...

The music and singing at tonight's service were AMAZING. I felt so moved by it all that at several points in the evening I was almost moved to tears, it was so beautiful. I can't even begin to do justice to it here in words. [Part of it definitely was the fact that the congregation was 95% (if not more) men, and I just adore men's choruses/men singing. The other part, however, was that I just felt my heart and soul opening and expanding as the music and our voices filled the church.]

There was definitely much more racial diversity at this Dignity/Washington service in comparison to the Dignity/Northern Virginia one I went to last week. There was even some age and gender diversity, too, which was really nice. The priest was the same as the one I saw last week, so maybe he is the regular guy (he is definitely consistently and explicitly anti-war). I was also glad that I wasn't the only kneeler tonight. But, oh, the bread they use for communion is definitely not what I'm used to. Far from the circular, thin, white wafer they were using what seemed like diced pumpkin, wheat, bran bread--and because there seemed to be so many of us receiving communion, I got half a diced cube of Christ. (I hope that I'm not being inappropriate talking about communion, but at least God knows I'm a sinner, and is willing to forgive me if I am.)

From today's sermon I took away the priest's message that God's love for me isn't about what I do, or who I am, but rather is about who God is, and what He does. It was a bit striking at first to hear the priest say that there wasn't anything I could do to make me worthy of God's love, but when he went on to explain that it simply wasn't one of the things I'm in control of, it made much more sense. In fact, it was very similar to the message I heard at a meeting earlier in the day, too. Definitely a good reminder to think about accepting the things I cannot change, having the courage to change the things I can, and being wise enough to know the difference.

Now I feel a bit torn. Dignity/Northern Virginia's service is so close to me, and on a day and time when I'll most likely have the opportunity to attend, but Dignity/Washington was a really good experience--not quite the same as St. Augustine's, but with lots of similar good feelings.

Actually, on second thought, it's nice to have a choice of services...