Wave.

Next everyone reads the Creed from the program.  As with the last time she looked at it, it's really easy to understand and she can read through it way faster than she's used to being able to do with text.

Rebecca is not really self-aware enough to notice this. She's not a hundred percent on actually reciting the thing, so she just reads along silently.

Singing time!*  Thekla holds the hymnal for the two of them.  The sheet music isn't what Rebecca's used to but is quite intuitive regardless, and the congregation sorts itself into four-part harmony.

Should my body come to harm
I seek out the blood of Mirkes
Pain of brain or heart or arm
I seek out the blood of Mirkes
Oh, precious is the flow
That heals each slash and blow
Body whole that soul may grow
By the blessèd blood of Mirkes

Pill or syringe, surgery
All start with the blood of Mirkes
Maps of every artery
All start with the blood of Mirkes
Ease pain that we may learn
The body's every nook and turn
Hᴇʀ work let all discern:
Knowledge through the blood of Mirkes

Duty is not His alone
I add to the blood of Mirkes
Let the pools be overflown
I add to the blood of Mirkes
Red mantel, be my shawl
Donation my gift and call
Healthy I and we and all
My blood is the blood of Mirkes

When my time on Earth must cease
Comfort in the blood of Mirkes
Travel I in blissful peace
Comfort in the blood of Mirkes
Ease all the pain and strife
With which my soul is rife -

Off to the land of second life!
Ferried by the blood of Mirkes

The accompaniment chills way out for most of the fourth verse, only to return triumphantly at speed for the last two lines.

*Any similarity to real-life hymns the reader may be familiar with is a product of translation convention (and what the author finds fulfilling to write).  It's not diegetic.

These lyrics are SO WEIRD but she was healed by what was PRESUMABLY the blood of Mirkes so she will not let this get in the way of singing along.

The pew in front of them has pencils resting in stands in its back.  Thekla uses one to scrawl a bit in the program's whitespace, still singing along without looking at the lyrics.  She slides it over to Rebecca during the instrumental outro.

You could audition for the choir. ♪✧

may be!

Mother Dedemos turns to face the normal way for a priest finally.  "O Lord our God, we are Your companions and Your children, and though You made us with our own wills and minds, we turn again towards You.  In thanksgiving and in lack we seek You; in the paths of Your light we walk.  We follow You by choice.  Not by fear or threat do we gather here, but by love, and in love.  Love for you, O God, creator of the sea, the land, and the heavens, and love for each other, the community built around You, but not solely of You.  Bless this service, this meeting of hearts; bless those who participate in it and those who witness it; let it be worthy of delight and cause for reflection.  Lady of the night and day and the times between them, we pray this in Your name.  Amen."

Is everyone else saying amen? She will say it with everyone else if they are.

They are!

The lights dim to half brightness and about fifteen people (including Thekla) walk to the front of the sanctuary as an out-of-sight accompanist plays a few filler chords.

Once they're in position, facing the triple array of stained glass windows, the music fades out.  So do the lights.  It's still dark outside, with the barest hint of dawn drifting weakly through.

The singing starts quietly, with a very different chord structure from anything Rebecca's used to.  It's floaty, ethereal, and sits with dissonance for sometimes as many as several bars before resolving.  Lots of overlapping lines.  Most of it's in a language she can't understand or identify, but for just the bridge it switches back into the one she's been speaking.

O G - o - o - od
(Creator of the stars) (Creator of our hearts) (O Lady, Lady of our hearts)
O G - o - o - od, we watch
(As they shine resolute and singular) (So-o-o-o too do we form our constellations) (Connection, holy and satisfying)
We lo - o - o - ok, out
(To the east) (Your light, which we await) (The sun, too, is a star)

And see

- Dawn
(Dawn) (Dawn) (Dawn)

(And indeed, over the course of the song, the sanctuary has lightened significantly, more and more light streaming through the windows by degrees.)

Oh that's such a pretty observance.

Thekla returns to the pew, very slightly smiling.

Pretty Rebecca writes.

Thekla draws a seven-pointed star (the broader, more sun-like kind) in response.

Back at the pulpit, Mother Dedemos gives a tight twenty-minute talk in the form of a parable, though one written relatively engagingly and with a fair amount of detail.  It's about a woman who lives in the city but visits a nearby small town for her brother's wedding and develops some romantic chemistry with the bride's cousin.  Things are going well until they pay for their meals on a date and this for some reason causes the man to realize the woman is left-handed.  He recoils from her and after the wedding she takes an "aeroplane" back to the city.  Over the course of several argumentative "teleloquer" conversations, he becomes convinced of the non-immorality of her writing method and reveals that he's actually a natural leftie himself, who was taught as a child that he was unnatural.  The woman agrees to a "kinemagraph" date when the man travels to the city for work, but is unsure about whether she wants to try anything further.  She didn't like his initial position and is glad he's becoming more open-minded but doesn't know whether she wants to claim responsibility for his growth by becoming romantically entangled.  And that's before getting into the practicalities of their living situations.

It ends without revealing her decision, and Mother Dedemos instructs the congregation to consider variations on the pattern: what if instead of left-handedness it's dearly-held opinions on vanity; what if you swap their positions; what if she's in favor of something far-out like injecting christblood; what if it's a secular preference instead of a religious conviction; what if it's about having religious convictions at all?

...Rebecca doesn't feel qualified to have a train of thought about any of this, let alone an actual opinion.

Next is a showcase of a few solos and duos from congregation members.  An older couple goes up to perform an instrumental piece with a lot of arpeggios on something guitarish and something flutey; someone reads a poem in the same language that most of the choral song was in, one with a strict enough syllable and rhyming structure that it's quite enjoyable even without being able to pick up any of the meaning; Thekla's presumable grandmother displays surprising nimbleness in dancing to the accompaniment of another woman on an instrument Rebecca has no analogue for.

Aww this part is fun, why doesn't her church do it?

The second hymn selection has not been amended to celebrate Rebecca's arrival.

Stand up, stand up for Mirkes, you soldiers of the light
Lift high his holy banner; serve as his radiant knight
From victory unto victory, his army shall he lead
Till all suffering is vanquished, and each has all they need

Stand up, stand up for Aurles, o heed xir trumpet call
That beckons each to gather in xir communion hall
You that are brave now serve xem, you meet unnumbered ails
A shelter build against them with fellowship's bright nails

Stand up, stand up for Sernes; her strength she lends to you
She calls you to improve in each worthy work you do
Put on the gospel armor, o don each piece in prayer
Until each call and trial your fortitude can bear

Stand up, stand with the Lady, the strife will not be long
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song
To those who vanquish evil, a crown of life shall be
They with the Queen of Glory shall reign eternally

There's three Christs here, with those funny names, but who's the Lady? She didn't get the impression that all three Christs had the same mother.

The hymnal holds no answer to this, or at least not on this page.  The Doxology is printed next in the program.

Praise God, all blessing's wellspring source
Praise Her, the author of joy's course
Praise Her, in hardship and dismay
Praise She whose wonders all outweigh
Amen

...well, God isn't really exactly quite a man, but frankly this one skeeves her out.

People start filing out of their rows and downstairs as the recessional plays.  "She was very quiet," comments Thekla of Catherine.