School's out for...two weeks! We finished the quarter and are very excited. JJ still has one big exegetical paper to finish that's due next week, so he's not totally free yet. Still, it feels good to be on break.
Yesterday, we went to a Jewish Orthodox synagogue for Sabbath services as the last part of JJ's cross-cultural module. And boy was it a different culture! We had to sit on separate sides of the synagogue with a partition separating the men and the women. It was very--check that, impossibly hard to follow what was going on. Thankfully, JJ sat next to someone who willingly explained some things to him. It was impossible for me, though, to really figure out what was going on. There was a lot of chanting in Hebrew, lots of bowing, lots of talking. You wouldn't believe how people just came and went during the service and talked amongst themselves the whole time! Very different from a Lutheran service! There was a Psalm reading and then several prayers were chanted. Some people stood while others sat. If someone ever tells you that Lutheran services are inaccessible to outsiders, ha! Tell them to try going to a synagogue! Anyway, it was a very surreal experience. I'm not sure how educational it really was, since I didn't know what was going on! But it definitely was exposure to a completely different culture, and that was interesting.
This week JJ and I celebrated Fat Tuesday with a dinner of pancakes and funnel cakes. I didn't know this, but JJ told me that it's traditional the day before Lent to have pancakes or doughnuts or other rich foods. This is because the day before Lent started, everyone would use up all their fat and shortening and rich ingredients that they wouldn't be using during Lent. Well, we'll probably still be having rich foods during Lent (praise the lard!), but it was fun nonetheless. In chapel we had a wonderful divine service for the first day of Lent with the imposition of ashes. On Thursday, we used the service of corporate confession and absolution. It's hard to beat divine service one day, and confession and absolution the next! It has been a very edifying Lent so far, but it is hard to believe we are in Lent already.
We wish you all a blessed Lent as we prepare for our Lord's death and resurrection.