Tonight I was invited to Norah's, who was hosting a birthday party for our good friend Harvey, "bishop" Harvey, as I call him.
The beginning of the evening was slow, I felt totally out of place. It seemed to me like a high class affair, lots of wealthy folk standing around in the living room and kitchen (that's just the first floor, there's a second floor with a massively big party room), chatting it up about who knows what, while drinking a glass of wine. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but for whatever reason I felt like I didn't belong.
Until I hooked up with Glenn, good ol' Glenn. He belongs fully in this crowd, he's Mr. Etiquette, but he's so down to earth, so easy to talk to, so humble, I was thanking God for putting him in my path over dinner, because we had a great conversation.
I shared with him my ongoing vocational frustrations, and he shared with me his ongoing frustrations, the details of which I wont mention here. Needless to say, once we began talking I relaxed, and all of the sudden, all those other folk who'd intimidated me, were no big deal any more. Actually, some of them saw that we were having a good conversation and came and joined us. And we welcomed them. Maybe had I done the same - join others in their conversation - they'd have welcomed me too.
Social encounters with native Canadians (and for the record, other westerners) remain mysteriously uncomfortable for me. For whatever reason, I feel much more comfortable with non-westerners.
Towards the end of the evening, a few of us - Will, Harvey, Glenn, and I - embarked on a very interesting conversation, covering science, ethics, atheism, and biblical history. We all agreed, of course: all good Anglicans always agree on everything (hahahahaha!).
The beginning of the evening was slow, I felt totally out of place. It seemed to me like a high class affair, lots of wealthy folk standing around in the living room and kitchen (that's just the first floor, there's a second floor with a massively big party room), chatting it up about who knows what, while drinking a glass of wine. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but for whatever reason I felt like I didn't belong.
Until I hooked up with Glenn, good ol' Glenn. He belongs fully in this crowd, he's Mr. Etiquette, but he's so down to earth, so easy to talk to, so humble, I was thanking God for putting him in my path over dinner, because we had a great conversation.
I shared with him my ongoing vocational frustrations, and he shared with me his ongoing frustrations, the details of which I wont mention here. Needless to say, once we began talking I relaxed, and all of the sudden, all those other folk who'd intimidated me, were no big deal any more. Actually, some of them saw that we were having a good conversation and came and joined us. And we welcomed them. Maybe had I done the same - join others in their conversation - they'd have welcomed me too.
Social encounters with native Canadians (and for the record, other westerners) remain mysteriously uncomfortable for me. For whatever reason, I feel much more comfortable with non-westerners.
Towards the end of the evening, a few of us - Will, Harvey, Glenn, and I - embarked on a very interesting conversation, covering science, ethics, atheism, and biblical history. We all agreed, of course: all good Anglicans always agree on everything (hahahahaha!).
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