River of Spirit Odyssey – Day 4

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Sunday, May 8

Breakfast at Friendly Crossways

10:00 – Morning service at Emmanuel Church,

Bach Cantata BWV 43

Lunch on the street

1:00 – Common Cathedral – Brewer Fountain in Boston Common, an outreach mass specifically for the large homeless population, many people attend.

2:30 – A conversation with the Reverend Pamela Werntz of Emmanuel Church

7:00 – Dinner at Trinity Church

8:00 – Compline Service Trinity Church – Copley Plaza

Return to Friendly Crossways – journal, sing, sleep

Common Cathedral grabbed my attention and made an impact on me. I really liked that a bunch of street people joined. The things they said touched me, like talking about their background and honoring their mothers because of Mothers’ Day. This service was one of my favorites because I could see that so many people of different kinds and backgrounds could come together and become a community.

Zoe

Today was amazing because I could see how everything was the same. It felt like all of the services were one giant full day service that was repeating. It was amazing, also, to see how everyone had a unique way of practicing the same thing.

Alex

Trinity Church had a very different feel from anywhere else we have been, The candles and incense really made it feel like a time of silence and thought. We did not participate in the compline service much, but it was actually better for me. I felt like it was more of a meditation and a time to look inside rather than be putting so much energy into prayers.

Emeline

The smell of incense

smoke rises into the air like a cloud

the room,

almost all candle lit,

Beautiful stained glass

Silence.

I am almost able to feel peoples prayers.

Friends,

sitting across from and next to me.

Carefully molded cross

hanging from the ceiling.

The choir,

singing songs in unison,

getting closer and closer to God.

Sam

Religion, to me, is a way to understand the profound. It is a way to manifest this bigger force in life that we can not understand. We can make sense of the things we can’t grasp. It is present within all of us, we just use different methods to make it tangible.

Ben

What a pleasure to hear the powerful words of the homeless. So much wisdom and experience. There was a great amount of energy when we formed a circle and sang, Young and old, healthy and sick, wealthy and poor, but at that moment we were one.

Gus

The compline service was very different from everything else that we have done so far. I really enjoyed it. The fact that is was so silent was really relaxing, and I appreciated that they didn’t have us constantly standing up and sitting down.

Colin

Today is the kind of day where I feel the most grateful for the gift we have of taking this journey of discovery of something much greater than self.

Julia

Compline at Trinity Church