Sweet

So yesterday was church, and I forgot my camera. At first, I was TOTALLY BUMMED, but as the service progressed I was so glad that I didn't have it, because I would have been distracted and would have been a distraction. And it would have taken away from the sweetest worship service I have ever attended. So I will try to paint you a word picture. :)


I went to church with Dennis Wilbanks, who is the current Incident Commander here in the Disaster Relief office. He works with Partnership Missions, and has been coming to Haiti for 12 years. Plus he is super great. He was asked to preach at a church he visited this week, and I jumped along. The church was in Croix de Bouquets (Cross of Flowers) and was about a 40 minute drive from the CMBH house.
The building was small- smaller than the room we use for the nursery at Coquina. The floor was cement, they had a tin roof, and there were thatched reed walls that didn't quite reach the roof. The seats were small rickety wooden benches, and everything was painted either coral or sea foam green. All of the Haitian churches I have attended have fake flowers hanging down from the ceiling, and this church also had a couple of paintings of flowers nailed to a board in the front.

When we arrived, there were only 7 people there, and the pastor was using a megaphone to sing. It was almost like Coquina- nobody arrives on time. :) Slowly people drifted in, and after a few songs, it was time for Sunday School.

The congregation split into three groups- adults, youth, and children. Everyone stayed in the same room for their classes. It was incredibly distracting for me, not to mention the fact that I could only understand about every 6 words, but they were totally focused on their teacher. The adult group was talking about Hebrews 11. Because most of the people do not have Bibles, and probably can't read, they focus on memorizing scripture. The adults today memorized Hebrews 11:1- "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." After Sunday School was over, the classes stood and recited what they had learned for the entire church.

Then worship started. And went on. And on. And on. :) But it was great! They sing old-fashioned hymns in French here, and some of them I even recognized and could join in. Two of the songs I recognized were "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and "To God Be the Glory". At one point, a little mouse ran across the stage under Dennis' chair and outside through a hole in the wall. It was literally a church mouse! For instruments, they had two drums and a thing that looked kind of like a giant cheese grater that a guy ran a stick up and down. I was surprised at the rhythm they gave to those hymns. It was fun!

The worship was broken up by times of prayer and sharing. One passage shared touched my heart especially- Psalm 95: 1-7:

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

Then they had a time of special music. One group of 5 young men- they called themselves "Imitators"- got up and sang a song about how in heaven we will have new names and there will be no difference between us. Then a little girl about 9 years old got up and sang a hymn. She sang so loud and clear. It was BEAUTIFUL. Then one of the guys from Imitators sang another song. It was obvious that all of the girls were in love with him. :)

When they did the offering, the pastor said in the prayer that "Even though we don't have a lot, you put enough in our hands so that we can share." Every person in there gave money, even if it was only a few coins.

Dennis preached from Luke 19:1-10- the story of Zacchaeus. His points were that 1) Jesus sees you, 2)Jesus knows you, and 3)Jesus needs you. This message was perfect for the people there today. He was very animated while he spoke, and everyone was absolutely captivated. This line got me- "Jesus says, 'I have come today looking for Zacchaeus. Those with a broken heart. Those with no purpose. I have come to give hope and to give life everlasting." When he called for a time of prayer at the altar, almost everyone went forward. And when Haitians pray, THEY PRAY. On their knees, shouting to the Lord.

Then we sang a few more songs, and the service was over. Like I said before, was probably the sweetest service I have ever attended. I can’t even think of another word to describe it. It was so clear that the congregation was there because they love love love Jesus. I am so grateful to have been there.