Wonder, Wander, etc.

This weekend my husband and I attended our church’s quarterly Evensong. I adore Evensong, particularly the choral varieties (although the word song is part of the name, not every Evensong involves singing). The service is a perfect confluence of faith, history, and art that, in our circa-1728 church with its old organ and spectacular choir, does more than any other to instill in me a sense of the divine.

Because my family enjoys outings that explore history, my husband enjoys organ music, and I enjoy Evensong, I will go to great lengths to see to all of these interests on our vacations when time is more abundant than usual. Yes, I am that mom who gets everyone to church over spring break when it’s not even Palm Sunday, let alone Easter. Making this happen relies a little bit on narrative sleight of hand, and I am careful to emphasize things like George Washington Sat Here or Look! There’s a Queen Buried in the Floor. Before anyone knows what happened, they are (more or less) happily reciting the Lord’s Prayer in a satisfyingly old box-pew’d church.  As with many things, the challenge lies not with the doing but with the getting there.

We've Evensonged in a bunch of really amazing and awe-inspiring places over the years. Bruton Parish Church was notable for being the site of the first Evensong my husband and I ever attended together (on our honeymoon), and then revisited with our two kids 15 or so years later. Closer to home, Christ Church is another favorite that reinforces the notion that Philadelphia has a very special place in history. This year, we attended an Evensong at Westminster Abbey during spring break (which coincided with Holy Week).

The London trip came about after a lot of pondering on the topic of regret. It’s something I’d wanted to do for a very long time but couldn't find the perfect window of opportunity. And now, with a son who counts Churchill and Doctor Who among his favorite topics of discussion and a daughter whose fondest wish is to attend Hogwarts, it seemed like a great time in our family history, if not our family economy. Would we regret spending the money? Would we regret not spending the money? Where is our perfect information? (If you've seen it, please let me know soonest.)

Each of the four of us had points in the trip when we were overcome by a sense of rightness, that we were in the right place at the right time. For me, sitting in that space, at that time, hearing those ancient words song so beautifully, I was overcome by a wave of what I can only describe as a superlative calm. God? Confidence in my own decision to set aside the anxiety and doubts and just go? Jet leg?  I don’t know and I don’t really think it matters.  Evensong had done it again.