Wednesday of the First Week of Lent Service - Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church - Holladay, UT - March 12th, 2014

      What an experience tonight was. This was my second time visiting the Orthodox Christian community, and my first time visiting a Greek Orthodox Church. If you want to go to a place where a service is set up for full devotion, this would be the place.

    First, to describe the setting. The setting is like crossing into a portal to the past. At the entrance there are three icons where I made the sign of the cross at each like the person before me and after crossed into the sanctuary. The sanctuary doors glass is dark enough that you cannot see what is inside. Once inside you are greeted by chandeliers, candles and a huge golden covering with life-size icons on an Angel (I think Michael), Prophet Elias, Mary and the baby Jesus and a few others. These are doors to the back where other icons and the altar is, the one area not covered except by a red curtain when the Eucharist is prepared. 

     A few minutes before the service started one of the priests (there were four of them) began chanting prayers. These prayers lasted until the Lenten service began and continued on from there. The only time when the chanted prayers stopped is when the head priest came from behind the curtain where the Eucharist was prepared on an altar below on Icon of Jesus on the cross and when the time for communion began.

     There were certain times where myself and most of the older folks crossed themselves and that was when "Hallelujahs" were said three times, and "By the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." There were also a few times were there was full bowing, such as during the communion prayer, and at one point the head priest bowed to all of us and we returned it...it reminded me of the Buddhist "Namaste." (The light in me honors the light in you).

    Besides the setting there were some other major differences I noticed, for one the Eucharist chant was more descriptive on it being a good meal intermixed with us becoming like Christ from the experience and that our kindness should be a living sacrifice to God. The kindness as a living sacrifice was something I very much agreed and supported.

    The experience was very long in the best way possible, there was respect for the people and the service taking place and the prayers/chants were like mantras with a positive and good message greater than the self. The theme was letting God transform intermixed with accountability to the self and to God...it was a somber service but not consumed by it...the somberness was reverence for the event taking place and honoring something greater that all were a part of.

   Suffice to say, I am looking forward to my next Orthodox Church visit and hopefully having a good conversation with one of the priests at some point during my stay here in Utah.