This weekend, a friend of mine, Irene, whose family is from Durham, invited me to go to church with her and her family.
I realized that part of growing up nearby means that your parents can still expect you to go to church with them on Sunday mornings. I also realized that committing in print to attend religious services meant that I too would be going to church that next morning. Everyone wins.
My friend is Greek Orthodox and her family belongs to the Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. While a new church is being built, the congregation holds Sunday services at the Hall-Wynne Chapel on Main Street in Durham.
So there we were, in church, hours after returning from Spring Break. "Oh, there's a lot of standing and sitting," Irene warns me as we file into the pew with her family. I figured as much.
The service was beautiful, with the choir singing in Greek and the priest speaking in both Greek and English. I barely noticed the borrowed surroundings, though everyone I met afterward mentioned I should come back when construction on the new church was complete.
At the end of the service, the priest invited any guests to stand up and introduce themselves. A couple stood up and the woman introduced herself and her fiancé, both new to the area. Another man was from a nearby church.
Then the priest announced that a member of St. Barbara's was moving to New York this week and wished him luck with his new job. He stood up and told the crowd in response that Irene would also be in New York this summer, after she graduated.
It was clear this group was far more than just a congregation. This was a community of people who knew each other well and cared about one another. After the service was over and Irene recovered from being thrown into a cross-chapel conversation, everyone stood in the aisles to talk.
I watched one member inquire about another's children, brothers and uncles, knowing each by name and genuinely interested in hearing about them. I learned that Duke students often attend this service, though Spring Break had diminished the undergraduate crowd. Next Sunday the students would be singing in the choir, and they are regularly involved with the services in other ways.
The Duke University Orthodox Christian Student Association doesn't currently house a center on campus. It holds services Tuesday evenings in the Chapel crypt and is involved with parishes in the area.
These students are a part of the local St. Barbara community, which, even in the Hall-Wynne Chapel, what members refer to as its "temporary home," provides a welcoming environment.
It was great to be there with Irene's family. She helped me follow along and her mother explained different parts of the service. That Sunday morning was a time for worship, but it was also a time for the family to come together and for them to catch up with old friends. The congregation arrived week after week to pray and then spend time with one another.
This close-knit community illustrates the power religion has to bring people together and establish lasting connections. And as Irene gets ready to leave for a job in a new city, it must be comforting for her to know that there's a whole congregation who will really miss her when she's gone.
Stephanie Butnick is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every other Wednesday.
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