sunday service: 6:30 p.m.
I’ve gone to this church twice now. It’s a 10 min walk from my house, so very convenient. It’s a small church – in size and congregation. Fold-up chairs had been set up and there were maybe 30 some people present. It’s quite a new establishment and was co-founded 3 years ago by a Korean and Arab pastor. Service is entirely in Arabic. My first time there (7/7) was bit intimidating. I sat near the back and awkwardly gave a nod of acknowledgement to people who looked my way. I felt more at ease once the service began and familiar church routines proceeded. The service started with worship. No band, just a Korean woman on keyboard sitting among the congregation in the first row. I had never heard any of the songs before, but thankfully words are projected onto the wall at the front of the room. I read along as best as I could and clapped when others started clapping. Then there was prayer. After prayer, the pastor, a tall man with a white short-sleeved dress shirt, black dress pants, and a huge cross necklace steps to the front of the rom. We sang more songs then he proceeded to speak. Before we dove into the Word, he had everyone hold up a copy of the Bible, there were already many lying on empty chairs around the room but ushers also came by to further distribute Bibles. Then in repeat-after-me style with the pastor, the congregation prayed aloud for wisdom and insight in exploring the words of the Lord (at least that’s my guess). After the sermon, there was communion. I can’t remember the last time a church used real wine for their communion, but I think I prefer it to grape juice. After I tore off a portion of the loaf of bread that was being passed around and took a little cup of wine from the usher, I proceeded to partake in communion with the rest of the church body. Even though I was in a foreign country, listening to a service in a still fairly foreign language, I felt at home among other believers. After communion came the collection of offering. Prayer. Then announcements. All rituals that I was familiar with and understood with people who worshiped, praised, and believed in the same God I did. Although I couldn’t understand the message of the sermon and can’t even remember what the reference verse was, I celebrated little victories whenever I was able to catch a word that I understood. Here are some of the ones that I remember:
•Blood: دم
•Power: سلطة
•Great: أعظيم
•Son: أبن
•The Spirit is among us: لروح منكم
•Problem: مشكلة
•Position: موقف
•Sadness: حزن
I had originally wanted to attend a church service out of a pressing desire to establish a stronger sense of community in this country. I also figured it would be a great way to practice and learn Arabic. I didn’t stay to mingle after the church service. After the service, it seemed like the magic disappeared and I felt awkward again. I left quickly.
Second service
I went the following Sunday (7/14) for another service. The plan is to go every week until I leave Amman (though I skipped last week – oops). After stumbling in late, I was a bit confused to see the church swelling in attendance and was also asking myself where all the Koreans had come from. After seeing the matching “Heal the World” t-shirts and hearing an introduction from the Arab pastor of the church, I remembered that the church was hosting a group from a visiting Korean church (the home church of the Korean pastor, one of the co-founders of the church). I really lucked out with the visit because not only was the sermon in English (was delivered by the youth pastor of this Korean church) but it was translated into Arabic by the pastor that normally speaks to the congregation. The atmosphere was great. The message was very insightful and powerful. Luke 5:11 – 32 was the reference verse and it was all about loving one another. Pastor talked about newcomers to the church being like newborn babies. They need a lot of nurturing and care. The older members of the church are loved by the pastor but the amount of attention and care looks different. If we don’t feel like we are getting the kind of lathered nurture and care that are given to newcomers, this is why. The important thing is not to serve just out of responsibilities and not to serve just to get something in return. The church should be a place where newcomers feel comfortable, not just a place where long-time members feel comfortable. This is why the church exists. To love one another. To serve as a home for all. The important thing is to serve out of love. In the words of the pastor, “If you do things out of responsibility, you have limits. If you do it out of love, you can go on forever.” The pastor mentioned that just as Korea must love Japan, even though it still suffers a lot of hurt from the wounds that Japan left when it colonized the nation 36 years ago. In the same way, we must strive for love and unity among all. God loves Jordan and God loves Israel. We must strive for love and unity among all: Israelis and Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis, North and South Koreas, Koreans and Japanese. I was a bit surprised he brought up Israel and Palestine and definitely gave out a victory cry, “You go, brother!” inside me. If we talk about the love of God but do not love one another, it is just knowledge not love. I decided to mingle today and I really want to attend the women’s group that the church hosts during the week, so I also stayed around to ask for information. It turned out that they weren’t having women’s group that week because of the visiting group from the Korean church. Had a lot of fun meeting some of the members of this church. They were incredibly nice. Had some delicious pastries, osh el bulbul (shredded bird’s nest). The nest is created out of stringy knafeh dough that is dipped in sugar syrup and stuffed with pistachios. We sang “How Great Thou Are” in Arabic, which was a pretty cool experience. Some Arabic I was able to pick up on and others I learned:
•What’s the meaning?: شو معنى
•Look: شوف
•Oldest son: ابن أكثر
•Father’s love: محبا أيوية
•Give them: يعطوا
•Father’s heart: قلب أبو
•Image of God: صورة
•Responsibilities: المسؤوليات
•Refugees: الأجئين
•North Korea: كوريا الشمابية
•South Korea: كورية الجنوبية
•Border: الحدود
•Savior: السيد المسيح
•Christ: المسيح
•O Lord: يا رب
•Christian: مسيحي
•Pray: صلى
•Fasting: صيام
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