A young man paced the sidewalk nervously as I approached Church for Matins. We exchanged names, his sounding middle-eastern.

“I’m an inquirer,” he said. “First time in an Orthodox Church?” “Yes.” “What drew you?”

Notable hesitation, then one word: “Repentance.”

“You picked a good Sunday for that. The theme is the parable of the Prodigal Son. Do you know it?”

“No. I just started reading Matthew.”

(Edited to make me sound slicker than I was.)

So I summarized the parable for him and then left to do my part in the services.

Seldom have we had someone starting as such a “clean slate,” innocent of any knowledge of the faith.

But remarkable, too, that seldom have we had someone give a confident answer that “repentance” is what drew him. That is probably the very best of all possible answers. I don’t know where he got it.

He stayed all three hours through the Divine Liturgy. I think God’s up to something in this young man.