July 19, 2002

Some of our fellow orientees.

Today was the last day of our training, rounded out by a wonderful worship service of song and communion. Even with the divisions in the church, we were able to agree enough to celebrate. Marthame brought the Melkite altar cloth that the bishop in Damascus had given him to symbolize our union through the mysteries of the eucharist. The evening was rounded out by a talent show, although some were questionable as talents. One that certainly qualified, though, was a family that had written a song particularly in honor of orientation.

That night, we headed downtown to the Hancock Tower to meet up with some friends and Marthame's sister who was in town for a conference, a nice treat. We had a wonderful time visiting and chatting, looking out over the incredible lights of night-time Chicago. We miss this place...