An Uplifting Morning

On Sunday I had the privilege of going to church with the visiting professor, his wife, and my roommate down here. We went to a little church in the city but it is kind of on the outskirts (or at least it feels like it) because you go down a old-beaten-cow-path-looking road. The people were so welcoming it was almost overwhelming. I know I shook everyone's hand and some of the people twice. The church service had a very family-oriented feel to which made it very comforting. There were probably 30-40 people there including the four of us which was a lot of fun. The songs were really fun to sing to since they used a projector. It was even more of a cultural experience though (besides having the whole service in Spanish) because they didn't play an instruments. They used a CD player with the songs already on the CD to follow along to. It was great when they played one song on the CD and had different words up on the screen, but still sang to it! Haha...I probably had the biggest smile out of everyone because it made me realize how dumb it is in American churches that everything has to be perfect and run smoothly even though we are there to worship our Savior and Creator who doesn't care how we perform or sound, as long as you are praising HIM. I also liked how the service was very informal and there were no expectations because they were not there to perform for each other. They were there to perform for their Savior.

The singing time of the worship service was even more uplifting because there were girls with tamborines trying to keep everyone together but were also dancing around and sometimes would lose the beat, but everyone moved on and wasn't phased. I loved that! There was also no formal structure to the message since there were 3 different messages given by 3 different people. But again, there was no need for technology or sources. The only thing they used was God's Word and their lips to speak. They did not speak from a powerpoint or paper. It was solely the words The Holy Spirit was putting on their tongues. I wish I could have understood everything, but I caught a lot of it. However, malfunctions with microphones and how they speak in the microphone affected it but who cares! They were speaking the words that we all needed to hear. I just kept praying that I would get the message that the Holy Spirit knew I needed to hear. And he definitely did! I have been struggling with busyness of everything down here and putting reading God's Word on the back burner. One of the messages was strictly on that so it was great to get encouragement from the Holy Spirit from a person of a different race, nation, and language. That is when you truly know that God is not just only our God, but everyone's. I felt that my faith was truly renewed after that service because of that revelation that God is so good to speak to me through someone I have never met and who knew nothing about what I was going through.

The last part of the service was probably the most touching and made me the most annoyed with American Christians. I'm sorry if that offends some of you but hear me out. "Christians" in America go to church because it is the thing to do. Some even go on Wednesday nights but everytime but those times are for themselves and they live selfishly. (I fall into this category as well). We don't show our emotion in church because we are there because we feel we have to be--not because we WANT to be. So many people go to church to impress others and focus more on themselves than worshipping with the body of Christ as one to their Father. This made me very upset and annoyed that people don't pray out loud during services, they don't raise their hands when they sing because they are so self-conscious and wrapped up in themselves, and for heaven's sake, why can't we sing and shout to our Lord because thats what we would naturally do if we would let ourselves. But the opposite happens. We take control of OUR body that God created and hardly clap or move around while we are singing praises to our Lord. We stand there like scarecrows and if a mexican believer or anywhere else where they truly rely on Christ for their every needs would walk into one of our churches, they would probably question if we really wanted to be there. The sermons are a bit long here, but does anyone want to be sleeping or actually end up falling asleep, no! They are listening to the voice of Christ through the speaker because they trust that God is wanting to speak to them!

As I keep rambling, I will finish up with the most memorable experience of attending church that I have ever had. There were missionaries from Guatemala there and one of the missionaries took the conviction of bringing all the sins of everyone in the congregation onto herself. She was hurting just as all of us were hurting. She didn't even know me but she was crying over me as she had her hand on my neck praying for me. Half the time I didn't even know what she was saying, but I teared up because this woman had so much compassion and was almost yelling prayers up for my sake. She did this for everyone mind you, while the pastor was praying over the microphone and this lady's brother was singing praises through the microphone. There were others praying or singing outloud while crying and trembling because of the pain they had caused their Savior and how they have sinned against HIM. Why don't we all pray at the same time or while the pastor is praying pray our own prayer or sing because we feel called to. That was the most open church service I have ever experienced and wish that we had the same in the states. It is quite embarassing thinking of how private, reserved, and self-conscious we all are about our faith. No wonder America is crumbling. The so-called "Christians" that say one thing and do the next are the ones that are most afraid of sharing their faith because they are afraid someone will say "no" to them or not be their friend anymore. It is time we stop doing this and proclaim our faith about The One who has truly paid the price for all the sins we have committed thus far.