Chapter 120: Worship
I had a very happy two days at home. The density of houses in the suburbs of London is even smaller than that in New York City. Even if I shout loudly in the yard, my neighbors may not hear me. It’s quite free.
Zhang Wei rarely relaxed and did not do any of the homework she brought back. She seemed to have returned to her old days as a working woman, cherishing the relaxing time on weekends very much.
But she was still thinking about the weekend church service, so she went to school after breakfast on the weekend morning.
When she arrived at school, she didn't see many people walking around on campus. She didn't know if everyone was still at home or had gone to church.
After all, it was the first holiday for freshmen to go home after school started. Zhang Wei went to the dormitory to put her things and came back. There were even fewer people on the road. She couldn't help but regret giving up most of the day to stay at home. Maybe there was no one in the church at all, not to mention whether Butch would go or not.
Devon Church is located to the east of the walls of the boys' and girls' schools, within the boys' school. The door that is usually closed on the wall is open, and a dormitory manager is guarding it.
She looked Zhang Wei up and down, registered her name, told her the closing time, and asked her to be back before 1:00 p.m.
This made Zhang Wei a little curious. Would this week take so long? It was only around ten in the morning.
When she arrived at the church door, there was a priest delivering things at the door. Apparently, Zhang Wei was the only one at the door. She didn't understand anything and really regretted coming here.
She awkwardly gave the priest an awkward salute, and received a gentle smile, a schedule of the service, and a hymnbook containing the musical notation and lyrics of the hymns.
Then we followed the direction pointed by the priest and entered the cathedral.
As soon as Zhang Wei stepped through the gate, she heard a burst of passionate accordion sound, which made her pause for a moment. Then she saw that the spacious cathedral was full of people, but it was empty and quiet inside and only the sound of the accordion could be heard.
Fortunately, she always walked lightly, otherwise everyone would probably stare at her.
She looked around with her things in her hand and found that the boys and girls were sitting clearly separated. The girls were sitting on the left side of the door, and the seats were all full. The remaining girls were sitting in the front middle, and there were boys behind the middle and on the right side.
Zhang Weijin had already come in, and she had to sit down quickly because the pastor and the choir were about to enter behind her!
She could only quickly sit in the nearest empty seat, which scared the boy next to her so much that he trembled.
Zhang Wei: Sorry, Curly.
Because the boy next to him kept turning sideways after noticing Zhang Wei, and it was unclear whether he was saying something to his companions, Zhang Wei could only see his brown curly hair.
The choir began to sing, and Zhang Wei also took out the music sheet. Obviously, she knew nothing, and just looked at the girls with her mouth open.
Although she did see Butch, she was sitting in the middle row closest to the boys, and she was singing hymns seriously.
She realized that she was really stupid to come here. The place was extremely solemn and there was no room for people to communicate with each other at such an event.
However, the following activities proved Zhang Wei's idea wrong.
After the hymn ended, the pastor greeted everyone and then led everyone in reading the Bible, confessing their sins to the Lord and asking for His forgiveness. Zhang Wei read these lines with particular sincerity:
"...We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgives us of our past and allows us to serve you in a new life. To the glory of your name, Amen..."
Zhang Wei: May the Lord forgive me. I won't come next time. Amen...
She, a communist pagan, was really uncomfortable in a Christian service, but that wasn't the worst of it, believe me.
The priest called the next part "Exchange the Peace". Zhang Wei didn't know how to understand it best, so he just translated it directly as "exchange of peace".
When Zhang Wei didn't know what to do next and was still sitting there blankly, he suddenly saw everyone stand up and shake hands and hug each other.
At first, Zhang Wei was quite curious about this ceremony, but when she suddenly noticed that everyone started to leave their seats and shake hands and hug each other, and someone was walking towards her, she lost her composure.
She tried to keep her eyes level, relax and reduce her presence, but the footsteps stopped beside her and showed no signs of leaving. Zhang Wei turned her head stiffly and was stunned when she saw the old pastor with gray hair, who was looking at her gently.
Zhang Wei quickly stood up and stretched out his hand.
The pastor held her firmly with his dry hand and said slowly, "May peace be with you."
At that moment, magically, Zhang Wei seemed to have gained a little strength, and his whole body felt warm.
In fact, Zhang Wei didn't know that she was a rare foreigner in the cathedral. Almost everyone present was white. You can imagine how eye-catching she was, and naturally she attracted the attention of the pastor.
Then some boys started shaking hands with her, but Zhang Wei didn't reject them anymore, because there were sincere greetings in their eyes:
“May peace be with you.”
"May happiness be with you." Zhang Wei could also exchange "happiness" with other classmates calmly. She was too narrow-minded before.
Then there was a steady stream of people looking for her to "exchange comfort", and Zhang Wei was surrounded by boys at this time.
"What's going on over there? Who's there?" The girl had already noticed something was wrong with Zhang Wei.
"I don't know which shameless girl went to sit on the boys' side."
Several girls looked at Zhang Wei with gritted teeth, wishing they had not sat there.
Unfortunately, Zhang Wei was too short among the group of middle school boys, and no girls came over. They were all waiting reservedly for the boys to come over and "exchange comfort", so they did not notice Zhang Wei.
Zhang Wei didn't even see anyone's face clearly. He just felt his hands go numb. He quickly found an excuse to retreat. He went to the bathroom and came back to find that everyone was leaving and walking in the same direction...
It turned out to be the last part of the Christian worship, the sharing of the Eucharist.
Walking to the left from the corridor, you will reach the restaurant. This time, Zhang Wei was not alone. She moved to the middle of the group of girls. The dining table was very long and could seat at least dozens of people in a row.
The lighting above is extremely gorgeous, and the tableware is all made of silver. Just imagine hundreds of sets of pure silver tableware, it's really extravagant.
There were many religious paintings on the walls at the top of the restaurant, and candles were lit on the tall candlesticks on the dining table, but it was still silent. It didn't feel like a meal at all, but more like some kind of ritual, and it was indeed a ritual of "sharing the Eucharist."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
