So I moved into Queen Anne on 7/7/07, which I thought was bound to be a lucky day. So far, I'd say it has been.
I really enjoy living there. The neighborhood is great. My apartment is in a pretty good location, as I can walk to just about anything I need. I kind of enjoy walking down the hill to pick up some dinner, for example.
Living in Renton, I never would've gone out walking past dark. There was a shopping center about 100 yards from my apartment complex, and I used to drive over there. I couldn't really sleep in my bed at that place because the noise from the streets was too great, and the loudest noise was the police sirens that I'd hear a few times a night. Hearing things like that makes me fairly unapt to go for a walk after dark. I think I even heard gun shots once or twice.
Queen Anne is different though. Since I've been living there, I usually head out from my place around 10:00 to walk. I've found a pretty good loop. I walk all the way to the top of Queen Anne Hill, and continue past all the restaurants and shops and what not. I take a left and walk by the softball fields, where I play on Sundays, and then walk to the two viewpoints, one which overlooks Puget Sound and the other which offers a postcard view of the city. Then I walk back to my place. It's close to three miles I think. It sure beats going to the gym as well. All the nice houses I pass by on 3rd Ave and 7th ave, all the friendly people that you come across on the sidewalks. It's just completely different from Renton. I just find it much more mentally refreshing than Ballys.
One night when I was walking, one of the first nights that I went out, I came across a church on 3rd Ave, just up the hill from the lookout. It was a small church, and looked like an older building. A closer inspection revealed that it was called Queen Anne Christian Church, and it was a Disciples of Christ church, which used to by my denomination when I was younger.
The original plan was to walk to this church from my place on Sunday morning. I liked the idea of walking up the hill with my Bible in hand, walking a mile or so to church. I thought that the walk would clear my head even more, like it does when I walk at night. Unfortunately, it was raining on Sunday morning, so I had to drive.
It's a small church and the attendance wasn't great on this day. They also had the exact same hymnals as my old church in Watkinsville, which I thought was pretty neat. The regular minister was also out of town, so they had a guest.
And when this man started to speak, I was very glad that I came.
His sermon was about the Third of the Ten Commandments, but in order to explain things more clearly, he had to explain some things about the One and Two.
The contention of his sermon was that we have misquoted and do misapply the first Three Commandments. He offered some Hebrew translation to further his point. He stated that the First Commandment, instead of "Do not worship any Gods before Me" should instead read "As I am the only God, you CANNOT worship any Gods before Me"... not as in we are disallowed, but that we physically cannot. Likewise for Number Two, which states "Do not create false idols."
This was a real eye opener for me. I'd always taken it at face value... Don't have other Gods and Don't make idols. But his contention was that this point of view is simplistic and wrong. It isn't "don't" but rather "can't"... Needless to say, at this point, I was quite intrigued.
And then we got to Number Three. I've always been taught to believe that this one was "Do not take the Lord's Name in vain." But again, the guest minister invoked some Hebrew translations to explain his point, and then invoked some logical reasoning as well. He said "So it says, 'Don't put any Gods before Me, Don't create false idols, and Don't cuss? Does that third one not seem to follow? It makes me want to cuss."
And thinking on it, he had a point. I'd just never questioned it before. He then went on to state that, according to the original Hebrew, Number Three states that you CANNOT invoke the Name of the Lord for nothing (ie, in vain). Because every time that you invoke the Name of the Lord, there is an effect. Again, it is not that we SHOULD NOT, but that we CAN NOT.
So now, I'm REALLY into it. These were ideas that I'd never considered, let alone heard. And I was fascinated. And then, it got even better.
"You CANNOT invoke the Name of the Lord with no effect. But what was the Name of the Lord to Moses? When Moses asked God how he should refer to God in talking to the Israelites, what did God say? He said 'Tell them I am.'"
I am who I am. The Great I am. HOW DID I EVER MISS THAT?
The guest minister went on to say "Anytime you say 'I am ______' you are invoking the Lord, and it CANNOT go for nothing. 'I am lonely. I am healthy. I am sad. I am wealthy. I am happy.'"
It was amazing. And I started to think about what all "I am".... which is way too personal for this forum, obviously. And I prayed about it in church, both after the sermon and during communion.
But at any rate, that's how the sermon ended, although I would've been perfectly content sitting there for another few hours learning about the rest of the Commandments.
That was July 22. I didn't go to that church on the 29th, because I was in Maine. But I'll go back next Sunday, I believe.
I have been thinking about that sermon a lot since I heard it, and how it applies to my life. And I've kept it inside since I heard it, I haven't told anyone about it or written about it until just now. I didn't know if I should, or if I wanted to. But I got to thinking about how much I enjoy Queen Anne and how excited I was when I first found that church and how intrigued I was by that sermon.
And I thought the whole time that there was a reason that I ended up in Seattle, and maybe it didn't have anything to do with adjusting homeowner claims. Or maybe it did. Or maybe it's not apparent yet. But I did think that there was a reason when I went to that city. Likewise, I think there was a reason why I went walking down 3rd Ave that night a short while ago, and a reason why I was sitting in that church on 7/22.
