5 pm on a Saturday, and
I’m in church. Go figure. Most people would look at me and think I am
crazy, but I can assure you it was worth it for two reasons. #1 the party
didn’t start till 7pm. #2 it was like
most Catholic churches I have been to, SUPER INTERESTING!!!!! This was one of the few that I actually gain
so much information on I had to spill it over its designated space on my note
book. Hold on to your boots, it gonna
be a long one.
So this is the view from
the outside.
But getting to a service
at this church was a little more complicated then you think. What I mean by that is the fact that the only
have ONE English service a week. The other 7 or so are all in Polish. Hence why
I was there on a Saturday evening at the English service.
As per-usual I was not
sure when door to enter. Luckily I had a lady go before me and lead me the way.
Something new I noticed was a little bowl of water attached to the wall, which
the person before me stopped to touch
her fingers to it and then cross herself before entering the rest of the
church.
The population was smaller
here, maybe about 30 people. Mostly seniors as usual. But I can tell you one thing, there was at
least a third of the population there that was clearly not polish. (Might have
spotted some Philippineo’s and Korean’s? Can’t be sure thou.) Another thing I
saw officially for the first time was a senior eastern European lady with a
babushka on praying with a rosary.
One thing I must say about
this service, is that the Priest we had today leading the service LOVES HIS
JOB. The kindness and sincerity of this man was simply shining the entire time
during the service. His robes were white and resembled the chef style that I
saw back on Knox-Metropolitan on 109st.
Ps. this church I’m in today is Catholic.
He also added a Green
garment that went over his robes part way thru the service. When I asked him
about this latter, he mentioned to me that different colors are for different
parts of the year. At this moment the time of Easter is now over and we are
into “a regular time period” hence the green.
He added at the beginning
of the service “I would like you for forgive my mistakes in English today”. I
am not going to lie when I say I had to strain myself at times to understand
what he was saying thru that thick polish accent. I am sure I missed parts of
it too. He says that “Jesus calls us to trust in the future” a difficult task,
for me and others alike, but I would probably be better off if I didn’t worry
so much. Fact.
Another surprise came to
me when he mentioned that he was available to contact for counsel 24 hours a
day! I know that comes with regular duties as being a church leader, but I know
few especially at this man’s ages that are so committed to it! Good on him!
Another surprise came with
a young fellow clean cut in his mid 20’s (and a very nice suit) that came up to
the podium part way in the service and gave a short speech. This speech related
to hikers going up mountains, Christian life and our own daily struggles. It
all summed up to the idea of how hard it can be, spending so much time hiking
up hill in life, feeling like we will never see the end, but knowing that we
can reach the top. Sometime the
conditions are good, sometimes they are poor but in the end when we reach the
top, and find that overwhelming sense of accomplishment, joy, peace, and
finally rest. Heaven. Sounds good to me.
He also brings up the line
where it says “come on to me all ye who are carrying heavy burdens”. When I
hear this it is what I think of.
Man that thing weighted a
ton! And some days I feel I am still carrying it. Jesus can take my back pack
any day!
This church also featured
a painting of Time Magazines person of the year. Cousin, eat your heart out! I
know you’re a big fan! :P
In the second part of the
service a new topic was addressed. The missionary work this church is doing in
the country of Turkmenistan. I didn’t not see that one coming. Apparently this
priest and the rest of his team went over to this country 17 years ago and
started form the ground up. They had no church, no followers and almost all of
the country was Muslim. Slowly they went around a made friends and found fellow
Christians in the country. He also stated that “hospitality is excellent amongst
Arab people.” He spoke of how you never need to phone ahead, or say how many
are coming, you just show up and are welcome in. Plain and simple. He also stated that they “never had any problems
and everyone respecting”.
A point of interest he
brought up was that it always seemed to be the women that go to church and he
men would be missing ( I also see this frequently ) . He asked these women
where their husbands were. And they would always have a mixed verity of
excuses. However the priest expressed his thinking that the real reason these
men were missing was alcoholism. Another interesting fact was that these women
who were new Christians really enjoyed having a Sabbath. By that I mean that
normally they would just be going all-out with all their regular house work
without ever having a real day of rest. They expressed how much they enjoyed
their new schedule where they would finish all the house work on Saturday and
Sunday they would rest, go to church, pray, and meet with friends. During the
mission there they have baptized 22 people. Some of them were Muslims that
simply decided that they want to fallow Jesus.
But not all of this was
sunshine and roses. Like one situation that was mentioned with a lady being
concerned, with her family rejecting her for going to church. They apparently
told hr straight up that if she keeps going to church and becomes a Christian
they will not attend her funereal. So the priest gave his words of comfort to
her in the form of expressing the fact
that only god knows if we will die before or after other people, so who knows
what will happen?
Another thing I haven’t
seen Since the Unitarian Congregation of West Wood. Bells. More precisely the
ringing of meditation bells throughout the church service, at certain key
points. Nice touch.
After the service was over
I met with the priest who was one of the warmest and loving people I will ever
know. He greeted me immediately by taking me by both hands looking me in the
eye, asking my name and then giving me this great warm hug. He quickly walks me
over to the nearest bench so we could sit down with him ready to answer all my
questions.
So I broke out my note
book and we went thru my list, and one of the questions near the top had to do
with the communion. I found it odd in the fact that today we were only offered
the “body/bread of the lord” and not the “wine/blood”. He responded by saying that traditionally services
would only give out the bread, and leave out the wine. He did however mention
that the church they had in Turkmenistan they would actually offer not only the
bread but the wine. But not just once a week on Sundays, but every day of the
week!
When I walked in this
church I saw something that totally gave it bonus points in my mind. A more
ethnically accurate image of what Jesus and Mary actually looked like.
Keep in mind that Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. Where is Bethlehem? In a little country know as a Palestine.
Last I checked the average citizen there was not blond haired, blue eyed with a
light skin tone. I think this baby sums it up well.
I pointed this out a
high-fived them for having some degree of historical accuracy. The first I have
seen with the skin color issue in 22 churches. I was also told that rumor says
that Luke painted the original image of what we normally see as the “Madonna
and child” painting out of the kitchen table top of the holly family.
Here is a really good link
that give you more on this.
On a final note, I think
might have accidently ticked off some people at
this church. And by that I am referring to the
fact that I accidently wore a tank-top because I walked their and it was hot
out, so that’s what I wore. ( it had thick straps and was modest for the
record) I got some grumpy looks from so old ladies but I don’t give a rats butt
what they think. As a good friend of
mine once put it, “ you can’t judge the devotion of a woman by the length of
her skirt.”
Ps. I have never seen my
middle name spelled with a “W” before.
Darn Poles and their W's.
ReplyDelete