My trip to Atlanta

I was in Atlanta for a conference this week and had the opportunity to visit two local parishes. Sadly, there was a large Greek festival going on that I couldn't make for scheduling reasons. I am not normally one to pass up a food festival.

On Sunday I drove up to Woodstock, GA north of Atlanta to St. Elizabeth Mission. They currently meet at a funeral home, but have already purchased and begun work on a new building some 5 minutes from the current meeting location. I arrived farcically early so as not to be late (Atlanta traffic is awful - something I learned from Summer visits to see family). I took the time to do pre-communion prayers and listen to some podcasts. As people trickled in I followed the flow of people into the chapel.

It is always heartening when there is a lot of participation by parishioners. St. Elizabeth's is one of those missions where much of the parish comes in and either puts on sticharia or walks up front and opens up a binder to join the choir.

Never having been to an ACROD mission, I was not sure what to expect. The music was somewhat off-book, with some of the translations not from the standard translation and the tones were non-plainchant, but the people knew the music and readily joined in.

The people were very welcoming of this visitor and I would happily visit again should I be in Atlanta in the future. I expect they'll be in their new home by then.

This afternoon I went to St. John the Wonderworker in Atlanta. It's a church with a full liturgical week. Matins and Vespers every weekday with what looks to be at least one weekday Liturgy. I arrived just on time for the service. It was lightly attended being 4 pm on a weekday. They have lots of iconography covering every wall, so I walked around a bit to get a better look (relics of St. Seraphim, a section of the coffin of Fr. Seraphim Rose, some rather old icons). I was on familiar musical ground, being familiar with the music and the Diocese of the South's idiosyncratic translations. As with St. Elizabeth's, I was welcomed warmly and asked to come back soon.