Tonight I went with a group of 8 students and 1 professor to a Maronite Catholic Church in Irbid. The service started at 6:30 and went about an hour and a half (it was longer than usual, I'm told). Naturally, everything was in Arabic, so it was quite difficult to follow, but by the end I managed to follow along with the songs in the hymnal at least. As a matter of fact, I recognized the tunes of two of the songs, even though the words were different. One of them was definitely "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God" and I can't recall the title of the other.
Going to a church service that was in Arabic brought me back to my experiences of attending mass with my host-parents in Honduras. There too, the services were in a language that was not my native tongue. I struggled in both places to understand the words being said and mimic the actions of the regular members. It was difficult to actually worship when so much time was spent trying to translate what was going on and not look foolish. That's why when I at least heard a couple familiar tunes I was relieved to be able to let my guard down a bit and worship. By the end of the service I was singing along even though I didn't understand the words I was reading. I guess the beauty of it is that God knew what I was singing even if I didn't.
Now, I don't want to sound like some cliche-ridden daily devotional, but I think that there is definitely something humbling and edifying about worshipping God in a foreign language halfway around the world. It shows that God can be accessed in any language imaginable, at any time, and at any place. It also shows that there are communities of believers all over the world that share the same faith. At home, it's sometimes easy to get hung up on the church in America, or even just in New Jersey. It's humbling, then, to realize that the original Christian communities of the Bible were composed of Middle Easterners. In short, they've been doing this thing called Christianity as long as it's been around! I'm sure we could learn a lot from them if we became less preoccupied with sticking to our own traditions.
And maybe, just maybe, the Christians aren't the only Middle Easterners that we could learn from...
Going to a church service that was in Arabic brought me back to my experiences of attending mass with my host-parents in Honduras. There too, the services were in a language that was not my native tongue. I struggled in both places to understand the words being said and mimic the actions of the regular members. It was difficult to actually worship when so much time was spent trying to translate what was going on and not look foolish. That's why when I at least heard a couple familiar tunes I was relieved to be able to let my guard down a bit and worship. By the end of the service I was singing along even though I didn't understand the words I was reading. I guess the beauty of it is that God knew what I was singing even if I didn't.
Now, I don't want to sound like some cliche-ridden daily devotional, but I think that there is definitely something humbling and edifying about worshipping God in a foreign language halfway around the world. It shows that God can be accessed in any language imaginable, at any time, and at any place. It also shows that there are communities of believers all over the world that share the same faith. At home, it's sometimes easy to get hung up on the church in America, or even just in New Jersey. It's humbling, then, to realize that the original Christian communities of the Bible were composed of Middle Easterners. In short, they've been doing this thing called Christianity as long as it's been around! I'm sure we could learn a lot from them if we became less preoccupied with sticking to our own traditions.
And maybe, just maybe, the Christians aren't the only Middle Easterners that we could learn from...
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