Nerd Squared

I had a wonderful lunch meeting today with a friend of mine, and fellow worship-wonk, Sue Rozeboom. We talked liturgy pedagogy and Ph.D. work and all sorts of other stuff, continuing a conversation we'd begun a few weeks ago while in a minivan on the way to Toronto for NAAL - the conference of the North American Academy of Liturgy. It was during that conversation, that ride up, that I came face to face with my inner dweeb (again), and during the conference that I really owned it. Sue and I and our companion, John Witvliet, were talking about a particular Swiss liturgy of some centuries ago, and one of us made a joke -- I can't even remember the details now -- a joke about whether or not that liturgy had a "split epiklesis." And we laughed. In our defense, we did then laugh at the fact that we laughed. But still.

No, if you're wondering; split epiklesis is not suggestive, it's just dorky.

"Huh." I said to myself. "I am far gone. This Ph.D. thing is doing it, I think. Maybe Mia (my daughter) is right about me. Perhaps I belong in the abyss of utter and hopeless nerdiness."

I discovered at the conference that in that abyss are some wonderful people. But they are odd. Odder than most academics. They have the mild-to-severe social awkwardness of your average "smartest kid in the class" types. But these are liturgy wonks. So you have to factor in the "church nerd" component (increased not by simple addition, but by an order of magnitude), and it turns out these folks we folks are off the charts. So yep: I belong.

Further proof: the "worship wonk" annual academic conference this year was held in early January in TORONTO. Brrrrr. (Ok, to be fair, last year was in SanDiego; but still -- Toronto?! Ever heard of the Bahamas, people? Or some choice island in the South Pacific? Doesn't anyone want to do a study of liturgical hulu dancing?)

Further proof: one of the best practical conferences for folks like me is held in late January in Grand Freezing Rapids. But more on that in a few days.