[Magdalen] Anastasia Baptist

[ME Michaud]

A good time was had by all.

Very quiet, fairly subdued service. We sang Amazing Grace, also a hymn
I haven't heard since church camp (I have decided ... to follow Jesus).
Two guitars, a piano (which I never heard, and given the quality of the
sound system, I think it may have been intentional) and a cajon, played
or struck by a glum young man with no stage presence whatsoever. There
was a small group over on the side who signed the hymns, and an ASL
translator on the dais. Florida School for the Blind and Deaf is about
three miles to the north.

Church seats around 600 and was 3/4 full. This was the Traditional
service (missed the Contemporary service because I thought it was
at 9:00, not 9:30).

First address given by a young woman who said she was twenty. She
did a fine job, actually. Second address by a young man with a scraggly
red beard, who began with "heyyyy?"
and then went on to describe a childish tantrum (panic attack) on first
visiting the Jurassic ride at Universal in Orlando, then devolved into a
thorough scolding of his friends who worship Tom Brady instead of Jesus.
Charming.

During the collection the singing group sang something that sounded
very much like the creed rewritten in plain language (the BVM expunged
for the occasion, but it sure was trinitarian).

Met several lovely women (from Pittsburgh and Atlanta).

I was in the car and waiting for the police to direct us out at 11:57, a
new
record for me.
-M