Mmm, blood
This morning one of our neighbors from down the street came by and told us they were having a quick five-minute communion at their house at 3. Well, my mom thought she said ‘communion,’ but I thought she said ‘meeting,’ so we went. Turns out Mom was right.
Not that I have anything against communion, but my family isn’t very religious. We only go to church on Christmas Eve, and even then it’s mostly for the sake of tradition. During the service my brother will sometimes go take communion…if he’s hungry. I personally am not at all religious, though I do spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about religion, mostly in the context of, “How can anyone seriously be religious at all when there are so many different flavors to choose from?”
But that’s a topic for another post, when there’s not a hurricane on its way. The point is that we went to this communion-thing. It was all very pleasant and friendly—reading some Bible verses, praying a little, eating Jesus crackers—and I haven’t seen most of my neighbors in a long, long time, so it wasn’t bad overall. I’m glad I went. It was a little eerie, though, when we all threw back the Dixie cups of wine in unison and I imagined that *this* must be what it was like to be in a cult.
Most of the people on our street are staying. A few tried to leave but got nowhere, so they gave up and came home. We’re mostly out of the storm’s way (see below), so I’m expecting all of our houses to survive with minimal damage. I heard that when Alicia came through, our neighborhood didn’t get power back for seven days, and needless to say I’m hoping Rita won’t repeat that performance.
Anyway, five minutes turned into forty-five, and by the end of the party I was wishing they’d given out refills. Making small talk with people I barely know is NOT my idea of good time. But we’re home now, and we’re finally seeing some cloud cover. No rain yet.
Our water district sent out an email this morning instructing us to limit non-essential water use after 6:00 this evening in case the power goes out and they have to turn on their backup pump. Mkay. We’ve still got power, and water, and cable, and I’ll be here blogging until the lights go out (after which I’ll grab pen and paper and go old-school). I’m a little bummed that Rita keeps getting weaker, but still…isn’t this exciting?! Yeehaw!
Tags: Hurricane Rita, religion
September 23rd, 2005 at 7:19 pm
“During the service my brother will sometimes go take communion…if he’s hungry.”
Had to comment and LAUGH at this!! I’m an atheist now but I was catholic (or I was told that I was) and those little wafers were really good! I wonder what they are…
Seriously though, stay safe!!