Lunch on the Feast of Trumpets

A group of us were at a local eatery on the patio with one other lady who wasn't a part of our group. She was sitting by herself near the entrance to the restaurant, smoking a cigarette and doing a crossword puzzle. This is part of our conversation as I passed her on my way to use the facilities...

Lady: "So, what's the special occasion?"

Me: "We're a church group."

Lady (henceforth, 'L'): "Which one?"

Me (henceforth, 'HBS'): "The Living Church of God."

L: "Where's that?"

HBS: "We meet in a dance studio on McGee Road. (Incredulous look by L.) Today's a special day, so we're meeting in the library."

L: "So what are you? What denomination?"

HBS: "Uhhh... We aren't a denomination. We're just Christian." *At this point I thought of going the "continuation of the Jerusalem church of God" or the "Apostolic Christianity" route, but decided against it* "We're not Catholic or Protestant though, as we have some different doctrines."

L: "What doctrines are those?"

HBS: "Well, there are several, but probably the one that makes us stick out the most is our observance of the OT, or what most people would call Jewish, Holy Days. For example, today we're observing Rosh Hashanah."

L: "You mean the Old Testament?" (Looks at me with pity) "You need to be freed by Jesus." (Pause) "You need to read the New Testament."

HBS: "Well, we do that too ma'am."

L: "I just don't understand." (Turns back to her crossword puzzle.)

At this point I pat her on the shoulder and excuse myself to go to the loo. One sharp-eyed person in our party noticed our exchange and asked me about it. She really got a kick out of the "You need to be freed by Jesus" line.

I bypassed the part of the discussion about whether I was the pastor, and where our founders (she meant Mr. Poole & Mr. Ehman) were from.