7:30pm friday
Korean Central Church of Pittsburgh
821 S Aiken Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15232
shadyside
Over a month back, my sister had been asking me if I'd gone to a Catholic service yet. (She converted to Catholicism a few years ago.) My visit to St. Boniface was purposefully two days after her birthday, a secret gift to her, and I thought she'd be happy to hear. "Latin Mass? That's boring," she said. I didn't think so at all.
Alas, I'm not able to write too much about the content of this evening's service; every word was in Korean. Except "Amen." And the following words, in this order:
• Spoken directly to me: "Are you OK?" (walking toward me from an adjacent pew, squeezing my shoulders warmly... I'm sure she thought I had come by mistake, not expecting a Korean service, instead of the truth: planning it this way.) "Would you like a Bible? I'll get a Bible for you." (...one of a few English Bibles kept in the lobby ...and so kindly showed me the verses, so at least I knew what the sermon was addressing)
• on the PowerPoint projection, written in English, next to the Korean-language equivalent: "approval addiction"
• I could tell when we reached the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. The same sweet woman, who had by then moved next to me was the only one in the room who whispered it in English, loud enough for me to hear.
After the service ended, she sat a few minutes and summarized the sermon for me. I told her about gatherings and explained that I did not mind experiencing the service in Korean at all and so appreciated her help. I also talked about attending the Hindu service, completely in Sanskrit. She said she could guess that my husband was Indian because of my dress. Well, the largest piece of fabric most currently added is my dupatta. Perceptive. She shared that her husband was on the way home from Argentina that night. Safe travels.
No comments:
Post a Comment