I can now sing the Hebrew alphabet (or aleph-bet) to the tune of "Frere Jaques," which is pretty exciting. (Next time you see me, you can request it.) Even more so is that I scored perfect on my first quiz! Now, I'm on to learning the vowels, which essentially are a series of tiny little dots or lines or dots and lines, with some more random shapes thrown in for fun. I am of course very thankful for the Masorete scholars for creating this system of dots etc. around 700 A.D. so that people like me can actually make some sense of what had originally been a vowel-less language.

I love Hebrew so far. The teacher is brilliant and keeps telling us not to panic--that we will get this. The language is beautiful, mystical, poetic and each letter--nevermind each word--is imbued with a ton of meaning. I am fascinated by all of it. You can see some of what we're doing at hebrew4christians.com (though we were warned that the theology there is not the best; our teacher said that the only real way to upset her was to read the New Testament back into the Hebrew Bible, as the site does a bit).

In other news, I had a weird and wonderful church experience on Sunday. Guilene, my friend from Haiti, asked me to accompany her to Meade Memorial in Alexandria, founded around 1870 by freed slaves who'd been members of Christ Church (where George Washington worshipped occasionally and Robert E. Lee was confirmed). Guilene has been working at Meade this summer and so asked me to go early with her to set up chairs for an outdoor service. Father Collins, the young Nigerian rector, and several of his congregation had been knocking on doors in the neighborhood (just a few blocks East of Christ Church in Old Town) inviting people to this "parking-lot service." 

Not many new folks showed up, but the regulars were very warm and enthusiastic. Most weird and wonderful was that Father Collins insisted I vest (in Guilene's white alb) and read the Prayers of the People. When I told him I'd been in seminary only a week, he laughed and said, "God is calling you." Later, he not only introduced me during the peace but made me say a few words. He very kindly said, after I thanked them for welcoming me, that they were honored to have me vest for the very first time at Meade. I was certainly honored, and I'll never forget it. 

Oh, and after the service, the LEM asked if I'd like to see an embalming. He smiled and explained he owned a funeral home and had special permission to let clergy and clergy-to-be watch him work. He gave me his card and said Saturdays were good. I kind of would like to see that, since dealing with death will likely be a big part of my future employment, and hope to call him up some time.