Halleluja!

Early Sunday morning. Alarm rings, headache is bad (yesterday was Saturday), but we manage to pull ourselves out of bed and head for the Bart station (train) to go to San Francisco. Why up early on a sunday morning? It's church time!



We're no regular church goers back home, but we really had to find out if it is as fun in the US as we see on tv. In the middle of SF, there it is. The Glide Memorial Methodist Church (right next to - one of our favourite clubs - Ruby Skye!).

We are very well welcomed, people shake our hands, they show us to our seats and it all starts a couple of minutes later with a funky band and a BIG gospel choir. We didn't even get to sit down before everyone are on their feet, dancing, waving, singing, crying and just filled with joy. They're amazing singers and the crowd goes wild - old, young, black, white, gay, straight, religous, non-religious - ALL are welcome here!

The sermon starts and we all have to hug the person next us. It would be awkward back home, but here - nothing seems more natural than to embrace your neighbor you've never met before (for me it was a big Asian guy, I was far from getting my arms all the way around him). And then we have to hold hands (still the Asian guy and his huge hands, mine just disappeard!) while swaying forth and back to a beautiful ballad by an incredible singer. Again, it sounds strange, but we were all caught up in the moment!

All in all, this felt more like a concert/stand-up show than a Sunday church meeting. And the speeches involved more politics than religion. What an experience. How up-beat we were when we left! The three girls that arrived quite shy, left the place dancing and singing the songs all the way back. I think we might have got more energy from this than from our weekly Yoga. Halleluja!