Song & Praise

(Aug 5)

This morning we gathered under the summer hut to meet Mensah, during who took a group of us to his church.  He prepared us for what to expect in the service, and after a very short walk we were there.

The church is a partially built structure... four half-built brick walls, a dirt floor, a tin roof supported by temporary wood planks, a modest altar covered with lace cloth, and two columns of wooden benches for pews. The women and men sat on separate sides. Despite its very modest appearance the people made it a warm and welcoming place.

Before every service, there is Sunday school. Mensah translated during the lesson, which was about how Christians should live lives full of love for others. As the Sunday school lesson closed, people began to slowly fill the church.  The bold patterns and bright colors of traditional Ghanian dress transformed the shell of this church into a vibrant place of worship. Women wore beautifully tailored dresses and lovely scraves, while the men wore dress shirts featuring similar patterns. 

Most of the two hour service was filled with music. An improvised version of Western hymn tradition, blended seamlessly with elements Ewe rhythm and dance. During one song, many of the women came up and danced Agbadza. Once they returned to their places in the pews, a number of men, including two brave souls from our group, took their turn dancing. There were drums, and many of the women, even a few of the cute little girls, had tambourines.  The worship was filled with joy.

Naturally, there were several times of prayer; however, only one period of silent personal prayer. Frequently the congregation would follow a song with a time of prayer in which everyone prayed out loud at once... It was a lot to take in given my lack of exposure to Pentecostal traditions. In the middle of the worship we were invited up front where we presented an offering we had collected as a group. Mark and I lead our group in "When the Saints Go Marching In," which the congregation loved.

The sermon was on a parable from the book of Mark, chapter four. They read the scripture in both Ewe and English. One of the elders translated the sermon for us... clearly we were honored guests.  At the end of the service we were invited up to the front again and the entire congregation prayed for us during another time of communal prayer out loud... it was quite humbling. We were encouraged by the pastor to continue to think of this community as we return to the states. Worshiping in this humble setting challenged me to reflect on how fortunate most American congregations are; however, it isn't the building that makes a church...  it is the community and in this regard this congregation is indeed rich.

Thanks for reading,

 Laura