Church: the Musical Theater

Well, let’s just say it has been fifteen years since I last attended a church service. And, when I decide to attend a service after fifteen years, I go big.

Lydia is one of our sweet learners at our school and at the tutoring center we volunteer at. A few weeks ago we had an assignment to visit one of our student’s home and visit with their family. So naturally we picked Lydia. Her family was so welcoming, kind, and we fell instantly in love with them. They invited us to join them at their church for service, of course, being the adventurous undergrads we are (trust me, it was an adventure) we agreed in an instance. So, the day comes when my little soul found its way back to church. We meet Lydia and her family early on Sunday morning at their house and their entire family walked us through Katutura (something like the slums of Windhoek). We go to school in Katutura, so we are definitely use to locals staring at us and making us feel a little out of place, but we have never walked through the short cuts of Katutura like we did with Lydia’s family. People starred at us even more than usual. Maybe they are wondering why this family is walking with these five American girls. Anyways, we could tell we were getting closer and closer to the church… music blasting and man’s voice could be heard from two blocks away. We turn the corner and set our eyes on a beautiful church! Lydia’s mom, dad, and older brother introduce us to everyone, including all of the different pastors.

Then, we were ushered into the church. Naturally we were aiming to sit a few rows back from, just in case anything got weird and we could have a fast escape. But, of course we got ushered to sit in the VERY front row of the church. The service was really great to listen to and to watch the passion in everyone. It first began with singing. Music is so important to Namibians and it was no different here. Next, the pastor opens the service with a very passionate prayer. This resulted in a women crying. To sum up the service: Musical Theater. There was singing, dancing, and acting. They would actually play a song, do a skit, and cut back to a song. The only church I ever went to was a Catholic church and I definitely don’t remember musical theater being on the agenda. It was actually so much fun. Seeing the church goers so passionate about something and seeing how musically incline they are was so fun. It was nothing like I have ever experience, and of course that always seems to be the objective when you are living in a new culture.