lazy sunday

I found my church today :)
Eikon Edinburgh. www.eikonedinburgh.com

It's a very small church made up of about 30 twenty-somethings from all over the world. Ireland, Scotland, America, Finland, Canada, the list goes on. They believe in a simple philosophy: connecting people to each other and to God. They are by far the most interesting church I have ever encountered, and the most welcoming service I have ever attended. Very few awkward moments. As you all know how I am with my lists, here are my reasons for immediately falling in love with this hodge-podge group of believers and the church they planted only 18 short months ago:

1. The service was held in a movie theater filled with leather couches. Took me back...
2. Clementine bread was out with the coffee and tea to enjoy.
3. When I first walked in the door, the pastor was the one arranging the couches for service.
4. All Powerpoints were run from the pastor's Mac simply hooked up to a projector.
5. The worship service consisted of a woman leading us in a capella songs while we all patted our laps to the voices.
6. The worship leader said "sucks" from the pulpit, while one of the pastor's illustrations used another choice word.
7. The church bulletin included a Sudoku puzzle.
8. During the sermon, the pastor invited us to join in on the topic with a discussion.
9. The daughter and wife were extremely generous in helping find my way to my school campus after service for an orientation meeting in the afternoon; to the point of finding someone to give me a ride right up to the door of the campus, to avoid the confusion of buses.
10. I met a woman from Chicago who graduated from Evangel University, in Spring-vegas, Missouri in 1992. That's when I knew I was home.

Needless to say, I'll be back.

After making a quick appearance at the orientation meeting and soon discovering it was a bucket of information I had already heard, a girl, who I met on Day 1, and I walked back to our flats together. I told her about Eikon, and she seemed very interested. Back in her home in Louisiana, she also attends an AG church. She is planning to join me next Sunday. Oh, and she is also newly engaged and getting married in May. Who knew.

Our last flatmate arrived today. Jennifer from Minnesota, ay. Amidst a long discussion about our travels, another flatmate, Alayna from "Jersey," casually threw out in conversation that she couldn't get comfortable on the plane because she has 2 steel rods in her back.

"What did you just say?"
She repeated it, and got that face that said, oh great I have to explain it to these people.
"I have 2 steel rods in MY back," I told her.
"No way."
"Yes way."
We both smiled and knew immediately that this was just plain weird. We high-fived and at the same time said, "Spinal Fusion!"

And then 7:00pm rolled around (that's 1:00pm for you Midwesterners), and I finally got to Skype with my handsome fiance for the first time since I arrived :) It was so good to see his face and those funny expressions that are unmistakeably his.

And now, I am sitting at my desk, trying to find a website that will let me watch Grey's Anatomy (and by the way, my other flatmates are Grey's and Lost fans as well, praise-a-lujah), while sipping hot camomile tea from a mug I threw on the wheel myself. Just another lazy Sunday here in the Burgh.