Sunday Morning Church, en espanol

For the first time in Ecuador, I went to church this Sunday morning. The church is called Iglesia de la Republica and Jorge Moyano, one of our contacts with Amor y Esperanza, invited us. It’s the same church a family friend (Dirk Cameron) used to attend in Quito, and is literally a 5 minute walk from our apartment. Unlike most churches in Ecuador, this was NOT a Catholic church. I’m not sure if it was associated with any denomination, but it seemed like it might have been a non-denominational Bible church. It was an incredibly welcoming place. We probably stuck out a little, especially seeing as I much too white to be Ecuadorian and was wearing a coat and tie unlike anybody but the ministers and the old men (always better to overdress than the opposite though; for example, wearing a tux to a pool party is funny, but swim trunks and flip-flops at a black tie wedding are simply distasteful). A guy around our ages greeted us and told us all about the church. Later we found Sr. Moyano and met his family. The people I met there seemed to be filled with a great conviction of God’s loving presence in their lives. Jorge even took Neil and me aside with his wife after the service and prayed for us and for our work.
Going to church non-English language services is always an interesting experience. I’ve been to a Catholic service in Bayeux, France, and a non-denominational service in Sao Paulo, Brazil (I also went to an Anglican service once in the Bahamas, and at times I thought we weren’t speaking the same language). I could understand some of the speakers pretty well today, but unfortunately the woman giving the lengthy sermon was not one of them. I did thoroughly enjoy the service. The service began with the classic worship song “Lord I Lift Your Name on High,” only in Spanish. I sung a little in Spanish, but mostly in English. It reminded me very distinctly of spring break in Brazil, where practically every song we sang at the service also had English lyrics with which we were familiar. While attempting to sing the Spanish was an interesting experience, the words carry little meaning to me, unlike the words in English. I also found myself focusing more on the pronunciation of some unfamiliar words, rather than the purpose of the song, namely to praise the Lord. So I opted for English, where the words and their pronunciation are instinctive, leaving the mind and heart to praise God.
Not understanding some of the service gave me time for my own reflection and prayer, however my mind wandered at time as the service went on. As I have grown older and gone to other churches besides the St. Lukes and Northside, I have come to think that the one-hour service must be a distinctly Methodist tradition. I grew up on one-hour services, and I think after about an hour and eleven minutes, the Methodist’s mind begins to wander, unless of course there is communion in which case more time is allowed before the mind’s ship makes port at La-La Land (thus I can manage the somewhat longer services at Christ Church in Charlottesville).