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 Sunday Worship Schedule
For a full Sunday schedule, click here...
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I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY -
I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY
5 inches. That’s just one inch wider than a 2x4 plank. This is the width of the “pews” where we worshipped this morning. We’re not sure whether the “extra padding” on our bottoms was an asset or a liability in this case. The pews are 12 inches high and about 6 feet long. The church building is too narrow for the pews to be set up with a center aisle, so that women sit facing the front of the church on their side and the men sit facing the women on the other side.
The walls are mud brick. “Don’t lean against them,” advised the catechist who is responsible for the pastoral care in this congregation, “or your clothes will be dirty.” So we “perched” on the pews during worship - we don’t need to tell you that these pews had no backs, do we? - and we didn’t lean against any walls and we gave thanks the sermon was less than 20 minutes.
Announcement time always includes a verbal report of the statistics for the previous Sunday. In this congregation they celebrated their “Thanksgiving” or “Harvest Sunday” the previous week. The attendance totaled 72. The offering was less than the equivalent of $US 2.50.
The choir members are young. The oldest looked about 14 or 15; she is also very pregnant. The choir uses two homemade drums to accompany their music. They also have a third “instrument”: a plastic 5 gallon container which has a side cut out to create the desired sound; the “musician” (a boy about 10 or 11) held the handle of the container and beat the top with a stick.
In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, he writes that they should “encourage one another”. And so, we’ll worship in this congregation again. Soon.
Pastor Joyce & Ian Graue |
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