Hanky Wavin' Good Times
Every so often I like to visit my friend, Sheena's church in Reading. Reading is a bit of a trek, so it's not something I can to every Sunday, but it's nice to be able to take a train out of London and spend the weekend with a good friend capped off by some hanky wavin' worship!
See, Sheena goes to a mostly black church. The pastor is from Jamaica. The associate pastor is from Nigeria. And they bring in that flavour of passion and joy that you just don't find in a lot of churches these days, especially here in the UK.
Preaching involves a lot of shouting and sweating and "Amen, Hallelujahs". Worship involves a lot of dancing (and I ain't talking the BT two step) and hanky waving. You better believe it's a good service if the ladies have their hankies out! Not for crying, but like spiritual pompoms.
Last Sunday the service was fantastic! No hanky waving, but there was plenty of clapping and dancing and shouting and carrying on both during worship AND during the preaching. You see, we get chastised if we don't shout and holler back at the preacher when he's preaching. "Ain't nobody talkin' to me," he'll say. "Must be nobody out there." And of course that gets everybody all fired up.
There seems to be some sort of difference between normal preaching and PREACHIN'. Once again, the pastor was preaching along and getting all worked up and then he says, "Ohhh, I wanna preach now but I'm tryin' to behave myself." Much laughter. (I turned to Sheena and asked, "What's he been doing for the past 20 minutes, then?") He didn't behave himself long 'cause before we knew it, he was PREACHIN'. There was sweat! There was hollerin'! There was organ music! There was bobbing up and down and pacing back and forth! There was waving of hands and stomping of feet! There was a big, green towel (for the mopping of sweat)! It was pretty awesome. If church had been like this when I was a kid, I doubt I'd have been so bored.
The most awesome thing was that so many things he was saying had deep resonance with me and where I am right now. In fact, church started at 10am and it was nearly 2pm by the time we got out. I didn't even notice. Me, the hater of long church services. Go figure. I guess when a preacher is actually saying something interesting in an interesting way, one doesn't get bored. lol
Sheena is singing in the Easter service, so I'll be back to wave my hanky for that.
In the meantime, check out this youtube video. It'll give you an idea of what her church is all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B72NWjVGr0I
See, Sheena goes to a mostly black church. The pastor is from Jamaica. The associate pastor is from Nigeria. And they bring in that flavour of passion and joy that you just don't find in a lot of churches these days, especially here in the UK.
Preaching involves a lot of shouting and sweating and "Amen, Hallelujahs". Worship involves a lot of dancing (and I ain't talking the BT two step) and hanky waving. You better believe it's a good service if the ladies have their hankies out! Not for crying, but like spiritual pompoms.
Last Sunday the service was fantastic! No hanky waving, but there was plenty of clapping and dancing and shouting and carrying on both during worship AND during the preaching. You see, we get chastised if we don't shout and holler back at the preacher when he's preaching. "Ain't nobody talkin' to me," he'll say. "Must be nobody out there." And of course that gets everybody all fired up.
There seems to be some sort of difference between normal preaching and PREACHIN'. Once again, the pastor was preaching along and getting all worked up and then he says, "Ohhh, I wanna preach now but I'm tryin' to behave myself." Much laughter. (I turned to Sheena and asked, "What's he been doing for the past 20 minutes, then?") He didn't behave himself long 'cause before we knew it, he was PREACHIN'. There was sweat! There was hollerin'! There was organ music! There was bobbing up and down and pacing back and forth! There was waving of hands and stomping of feet! There was a big, green towel (for the mopping of sweat)! It was pretty awesome. If church had been like this when I was a kid, I doubt I'd have been so bored.
The most awesome thing was that so many things he was saying had deep resonance with me and where I am right now. In fact, church started at 10am and it was nearly 2pm by the time we got out. I didn't even notice. Me, the hater of long church services. Go figure. I guess when a preacher is actually saying something interesting in an interesting way, one doesn't get bored. lol
Sheena is singing in the Easter service, so I'll be back to wave my hanky for that.
In the meantime, check out this youtube video. It'll give you an idea of what her church is all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B72NWjVGr0I
posted by SheaLuna | 1:01 PM
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