Our worship experience was quite unique yesterday. We were in San Antonio visiting Josh and Christi and their boys. For the first time since they have been there (about a year and a half) we were able to stay over on a Sunday and go to church with them. The church building is located right across the street from the famous River Walk, and not too far from the Alamo, so even though it is right smack in the middle of downtown, it has some historical and visual appeal to it. They have to hire police officers to help with traffic because the main parking lot is located across the street. The officer who stopped traffic for us seemed to be more than just a hired hand, though. He interacted with Zak and Caleb and greeted every person in the group. Great start.
The church's physical plant is huge. A strange man met us at the door and engaged Christi in some kind of secret conversation. It was so secret in fact that she had no idea what he wanted, and I don't think he even knew for sure what he was talking about. But he was fun. And he appeared to be doing the same thing with a person from the group behind us. Greeters.
As it turned out, yesterday was Josh's turn to preach in the special service he helped create. Everything in the service is based on the scriptural account of God's interaction with man, from creation to Jesus coming again. It's very well thought out, and of course very well presented. Come on. I get to be biased. That's my boy. Besides, I think anyone from Seaside would feel comfortable with the service, too. It had a familiar feel to it.
After that service Josh had to read a scripture in their traditional service. That's the one that is televised. They had an organ, an orchestra, and about a hundred people in a choir. When we walked into the room my first impression was the sea of white hair. It was obvious that this was the service of choice for senior adults. Christi told us the younger folks were scattered about the building either in service positions or Sunday School. Most of them attend the service Josh leads. We stuck around through the children's sermon. That was a surprise, by the way, because when they called for the children to join the associate pastor on the front steps, about fifty children came from nowhere. Our inside informant Christi told us later that they bring in a large group of kids from the preschool area so it will look like a lot of children for the television audience. Interesting. I'm glad Josh texted us and asked us to meet him in the lobby. We had had about all of that "big" kind of worship we could handle.
From there Josh took us across the street to the international worship service. They met in a room a bit larger than Seaside, but set up the same way. The people were friendly. Kids were welcome to walk around during the service. Adults were dressed in a wide array of outfits, from the traditional coat and tie to casual American to dress of their native land. The pastor's massage was presented in a mixture of Thai and English. He would speak a sentence or two in English, then pause. It would be translated into the Karen (pronounced ka-rin) language by a guy on his right, and then into the Karenni (prounced ka-rin-knee) language by a guy on his left. When they finished he would translate it into the Laotian language, then move on to the next phrase. Had to be a tough way to present a sermon, but he got the job done. The message was on eternal life: where is it found? When does it begin? How can we have assurance of it? Very simple, yet very profound. The essence of the Gospel, I guess. Perhaps the most moving moment of the day came at the end of that service when a guy came up and led the group in singing the Doxology. He was one of the original refugees the church helped back in the 60's when he escaped Vietnam. When the singing started, it became quickly apparent that everyone was singing the same tune, but in his own language. That meant English, Thai, Karen, Karenni, and Vietnamese. It was chaotic. And beautiful. Now that's a worship experience.
Psalms 29:1-2 says, "Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness."
Father, thank you for the chance to see you being worshipped in so many different ways all in one place. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment