land195
2006-04-16, 20:00
I had the pleasure of attending 3 different Easter services today, a Christian Orthodox (Greek/Russian), a Baptist Pentecostal (me: only white person there), and a Jehovah Witness (middle-aged females) churches. Even though they all pretty much read the same verse in Matthew, damn they are different.
The Orthodox one was very traditional and "pagan". What I mean about pagan was that they rely heavenly on incense and candles to fill the church with odor supposedly to please god, kid of like a sacrifice, but with candles. And this custom to please god with odors does go back to pagans. They also sang in a trance style, lots of repetition. I didn't get to understand a lot of the customs but the sermon itself where the priest spoke was only about 2 minutes and the other 2 hours was just reading a script given to everyone with prayers and songs. It was a script, it had the section for the choir, the people, the decon, the priest... Way too structured.
The Baptist one was fun. I did not know it was a 'black gospel' church until I went in and saw everyone dancing and singing. Right away I felt welcomed and not intimidated. There were a few people testifying, and speaking, but it was mostly singing. I even clapped along and wanted a tamborine too. The sermon was amazing and actually made sense. Even though I am not Christian, I now realize why so many people have so much faith in Jesus. I think it was the most I ever learned about Christianity, in just an hour and half. It was my favorite, in fact I didn't even want to leave.
The last one was the Jehovah and the one that I was most indifferent to. It was like an office setting, no decorations, and we sat in folding chairs. The priest just talked about giving to god and donating everything. From what I understand, the lesson was Jesus sacrified himself for us, the we can sacrifice our time for him. I guess it was an ok message, but nothing that really intrigued me.
So that was my Easter Sunday. From 6am till now, 4pm. Lots of god, and jesus.
The Orthodox one was very traditional and "pagan". What I mean about pagan was that they rely heavenly on incense and candles to fill the church with odor supposedly to please god, kid of like a sacrifice, but with candles. And this custom to please god with odors does go back to pagans. They also sang in a trance style, lots of repetition. I didn't get to understand a lot of the customs but the sermon itself where the priest spoke was only about 2 minutes and the other 2 hours was just reading a script given to everyone with prayers and songs. It was a script, it had the section for the choir, the people, the decon, the priest... Way too structured.
The Baptist one was fun. I did not know it was a 'black gospel' church until I went in and saw everyone dancing and singing. Right away I felt welcomed and not intimidated. There were a few people testifying, and speaking, but it was mostly singing. I even clapped along and wanted a tamborine too. The sermon was amazing and actually made sense. Even though I am not Christian, I now realize why so many people have so much faith in Jesus. I think it was the most I ever learned about Christianity, in just an hour and half. It was my favorite, in fact I didn't even want to leave.
The last one was the Jehovah and the one that I was most indifferent to. It was like an office setting, no decorations, and we sat in folding chairs. The priest just talked about giving to god and donating everything. From what I understand, the lesson was Jesus sacrified himself for us, the we can sacrifice our time for him. I guess it was an ok message, but nothing that really intrigued me.
So that was my Easter Sunday. From 6am till now, 4pm. Lots of god, and jesus.