Mike's musings

Love bade me welcome - and Orthodoxy

(backposting) Went to bed early last night so as to have a chance of being able to sing this morning. The service was at 0915, and I was up around 0800, attempting to warm up in the lanes around Ditchingham. The warm-up really didn't go well at all, and at 0910 I was gargling and drinking amontillado sherry in the bar gym. This is a last ditch measure, and only gives you half a chance. I went into the service really uncertain as to whether the voice would work. Low notes were fine, but anything about an A or so wasn't looking good.

I trusted to God, and he pulled me through. Although I've sung better, there was only one slightly iffy phrase, and I really felt that I'd given my all to God. Many people said how much they'd enjoyed it, and I know that Lizzie, who played the piano, really got a lot out of it. She did a much better job of it than me, too!

Mother Joanna Burton is an orthodox religious based at the Orthodox training college which is part of the Cambridge Theological Federation. I know very little about Orthodox theology - let alone how it relates to mission - and her hour and a half session was fantastic, and really opened up some new avenues for me to explore. Of which more in a later post.

The last session of the day was very difficult for me. We watched The Mission, a fascinating and thought-provoking film which ends in an orgy of violence against the native South American Indians who are central to the film. I found it too much - much too much - and I stormed out in tears and made sure that I drank enough that I couldn't drive home that night. What finished me off was when children started dying in the film. I'd been missing Jo (and, in a different way, Moo) so, so much, and was in real danger of just driving home. My initial reaction was anger that they'd made us watch such a film, but on reflection and a few beers, I decided that the problem was more about me than the film.