*Easter Vigil*
What could ‘help’? Or, a more apt question would be, rather, what did Sarah have at her disposal that she was actually willing to do to ‘help’? Her thoughts wouldn’t stop scrambling, she was desperately lonely, she knew was in over her head, though in what, exactly, she couldn’t even articulate to herself...
Sarah then suddenly realized: it was Holy Week.
Surprising even herself, the decision she landed on was to attend an Easter Vigil service. What she wore seemed appropriate enough... though even if it hadn’t been, she still would’ve gone... if only to test the boundaries of a given congregation’s open-arms invitation, which Sarah ended up doing anyway, by impulsively stopping at the second-hand store she’d happened upon first while driving around looking for a church - any church, any denomination.
There she found a generously sized half-moon pendant with a five-pointed star, which she hung around her neck with a very long, black fabric necklace chain, making it the focal point of her outfit ((which, yeah, I’m linking again ‘cause I’m proud of it, kay???)).
And the church she found? It passed her test. Despite her pendant, she was welcomed with literal open arms.
Sitting solemnly in the back pew, both by herself and amidst an entire congregation, Sarah participated in passing around a small flame with the wick’d tallow they’d each been given, gradually lighting the pitch-black sanctuary with soft choir of candle light, starting from where she was, in the back before the ushers ‘cheated’ on a minimal amount of overhead lighting.
It was a beautiful service; she even knew all the hymns. And the experience, God or no God, absolutely helped.