Worship

This is public art in La Palma. To see the outside of the church here in San Ignacio, see my first blog post.

Adoración is the word for worship in Spanish. And its the adoration part of worship that’s really touched my heart and soul. There’s LOTS of singing, which is wonderful. It’s a bit reminiscent of black churches in the US in content, though with the addition of electric guitar and a drum set, and minus the fabulous harmonies. It can quickly and deeply renew one’s connection to Spirit.

Her voice and message moved the congregation. Behind her in the band are Danny, son of our host family, and Esau, one of the English teachers we've been working with.

This weekend is a weekend of evangelization in the church. Members are bringing as many new folks to services as they can. There’s a visiting minister from Honduras, who is also staying with our host family, and an evangelical singer and her husband from Guatemala. The theme is Joshua 24:15 “In my house, I will worship the Lord.” I was struck by the minister’s message on Friday night that we can’t make anyone accept Jesus Christ. That each person must accept Christ for him/her self, including children. He preached at length about integrity and how a parent’s job is to model and make explicit his/her relationship with God. He said that then the children are likely to follow. I know children don’t always follow their parents, even with this kind of modeling. But it made me think about the importance of integrity, modeling and explicitness in parenting once again. 

Kids we worked with at the school singing as part of the father's day celebration.

There are also many quotes from the bible. The general emphasis is on praise and gratitude. Regularly praying before meals (grace) and at the end of classes has been good for me. I like how “habits of gratitude” are part of the fabric of life here. Church services here also emphasize how much God is in charge.

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There’s a way in which the God is in charge messages resonate with me deeply. Much of the preaching emphasizes our free will to choose God’s path and our tendencies to disobey. I don’t believe that there is a God moving us around like chess pieces, or Barbie dolls as my first Christian friend explained it to me. But at the same time, it’s also clear to me that we’re not in control— or that our circles of control and influence are limited. I from the United States, and I have a personal/cultural bias towards making the most of that control. But I’m also experienced enough to know its limits.

Here everybody goes to church and there's lots of intergenerational mingling.

About ten years ago my friend Christopher shared me with the concept of having a God-centered identity. It both confused and intrigued me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since being here. What it means to me now is not being too attached to a certain view of ourselves, but being open to Spirit’s leadings, and keeping Spirit at our center.