a beautiful Sunday

Our Lady of Angels Monastery

Walking through Charlottesville yesterday, we ran into Shelly, a Catholic Worker there who was expecting us (she's the one in the picture, with her son, Emerson). "You must be the Pauls," she said, smiling. "Yes," I replied, shifting the weight in my pack and leaning on my staff. "But how did you know it was us?"

Shell and Terry and Brian were great hosts, setting us up in a friend's apartment and inviting us to their potluck party that evening. A good gathering. Ended up meeting a (former) nuclear physicist and enthralling him with my story of going AWOL from a nuclear aircraft carrier.

Then this morning, as we were leaving, we came across a house church service just beginning. So we stopped in. It was at a home for disabled adults, mostly black, and a man and his wife had come in to lead the worship (with drum machine and bass guitar). Very good time. Lively singing, preaching that we could all contribute to, and I was even asked to play a few songs on my recorder. A Spirit-filled gathering.

Then we had a beautiful walk into the mountains to Our Lady of Angels Monastery, where a community of nuns live. And Fr. Joseph Whittstock, who I met years ago at the Berryville monastery. He invited us to visit here in his new home, where he now serves as chaplain. Gorgeous and quiet. So we sang with an evangelical preacher to open the day, and closed the day praying with nuns.