Happy Birthday to my big sister Prairie!
The V-Day party was pretty fun, and there were no calamities. There were probably about 50 people here over the course of the night: Jenn came up with the Baltimore JVs, Conor, Megan, and Patti all had friends visiting, the German volunteers came, some St. Joe’s students, and a bunch of JVs. We made Jambalaya, cupcakes, hummus, and spinach-artichoke dip, which I can proudly claim was the hit of the night! I stayed out of the basement for the most part – it was too loud, crowded, and stinky. My room was the “safe haven” for the people who wanted to go to bed “early” (a.k.a. 1am), including me.
This morning, Jenn and I got up at 9am and headed off to Grace Lutheran Church after eating some pancakes. It's about two blocks from our house. I’ve been wanting to go there for a while because I know that the church has a history of being really involved in the city’s social justice movements. We got there a little after 10, but the sanctuary was practically empty. People gradually trickled in, and the pastor finally showed up around 10:15, apologizing for being “later than usual.” I loved the service, though – there was so much music, and I knew almost all of it! =) Pastor Margaret is a good preacher, too, and I was genuinely impressed to hear her include gays and lesbians in her list of “everyone that God loves.” She’s African-American, as is the majority of the congregation, but there were quite a few Hispanics and a smattering of white people as well. They were pretty excited that Jenn was an LVC-er, because apparently one of its founders was from that church.
After church, we met Marié in downtown Philadelphia, ate lunch at Reading Terminal Market, and strolled down the Ben Franklin Parkway in the breezy sunshine. It was fun to spend a day being a tourist, but I couldn’t get over the absurdity of the three of us Methodists from Oregon meeting up in Philly…
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