Church Services

We attended an Ethiopian church service this morning and it was amazing. First off, finding the building was no easy feat. It's southeast of town on gravel roads with no real visible signs to guide the way until you can see the building. So it took us a couple passes before we found the parking lot.

As we were getting out of our car, about five Ethiopian kids wandered over and were talking in very soft voices.

"Who are they?" says one little boy.

"I don't know," answers a girl.

"Where are they from?"

"I don't know."

"Hey...who are you?" the first little boy asks quite bravely. "There's no white people in there."

I start smiling, since he didn't say it rudely, just a matter of fact. "We're Marc and Stephanie and we're adopting a little boy from Ethiopia," I answer. "Can we go in?"

"Yes," they all answer, and lead us inside. One little girl gets us a bulletin and asks if we want two or if we're going to share. And another little girl asks if we speak Amharic. I told her I only know the word toilet and she grins and says she'll teach me.

We can hear singing from the church itself and so we walk in and sit down, sort of toward the back. There are about ten people in the sanctuary and two men and a woman are up in the front singing. They sing for an HOUR. I'm not kidding, it was amazing. They just kept singing and the leading man wiped sweat from his brow several times. They sang and sang and sometimes others would join in. And people kept coming in until there were about forty or so people in the room. They were mostly standing, swaying, singing, clapping, and occasionally making that ululation (the women) that I learned in belly dancing. I didn't have the guts to do it myself, though.

After they were done speaking, Pastor Bekele began speaking and he said, in English, that anyone new (and he looked straight at us) should stand up and introduce ourselves so they could welcome us. So we did, and we explained we are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia and would like to bring him to worship sometimes. They were all very pleased with that idea and Pastor commented that maybe we would manage to learn a new language so we could get more out of the service.

Marc said he heard the Pastor ask for an interpretor, though I didn't hear it, and after about five minutes a man came and sat by us and began to translate what the Pastor was saying into English. His name was Joshua and he did a wonderful job.

The sermon was all about the Hope of God. So I learned two new Amharic words: Xabio (spelling might be off...God) and Tesfai (Hope). How did God know I needed a sermon about hope today? And having it delivered in a different language, one that my son has learned, was absolutely amazing. I was so incredibly touched.

Even had Joshua not been translating, Pastor Bekele was fascinating to watch. He walked all over the front of the church, gesturing and laughing and interacting with the congregation, much different than anything I was used to. I could see the love and the belief just pouring off him. It was really a spiritual experience.

I look forward to taking our son back to the Ethiopian Fellowship Church so we can worship together. Maybe I'll learn more words next time!