Disclaimer: There is a lot of stuff in this blog that could come off as offensive and I apologize for that but I am simply trying to tell you what I experienced and how I felt about it. I am sorry if anyone is offended or angered and hope that you will keep reading even if we disagree :)
The fourth day in South Africa was a Sunday and so Danielle and I went to church. Danielle has been to South Africa before (though not Cape Town) and heard of Hillsong Church which started in Australia but now has other locations around the world and is quite well-known. We took a taxi out there in the morning for the service and ended up paying the driver to stay there while we went to mass because he said it would be impossible to find a taxi back so he literally took a nap in his car in the parking lot which was kind of amusing.
Meanwhile, we were greeted at the door, and just inside the door, and in the middle of the foyer, and beyond by all of these people who kept saying, “Welcome home, welcome to church.” They were all happy and excited and energetic and genuinely welcoming each and every person who walked through the doors. There was music playing and a small coffee shop set up to the right with some pastries and drinks and a table full of CDs from Hillsong and some books as well. Inside it looked like a concert hall (and truth be told it was converted from an old club/dance place) but there were TV monitors and a full rock band set up on stage and a great sound system, etc. The feeling in the room was so unlike Catholic church that I almost felt as though it wasn’t really a church but at the same time felt more at home there than I ever have in churches at home (sorry, no offense). Danielle made a comment about never being in a church with a stage before and I said, “dude I’ve never been in a church with a TV before.” She thought I was kidding and explained that her church uses them and that almost every church she has been to uses them and wondered how boring our church must be (again no offense, just different experiences) and compared to the TV screens and the rock-type band I had to agree with her.
The service started with the band playing some awesome songs that were so much cooler than most of what we play even in Teen Mass, but Nzameranza wins out :) I actually liked singing along and everyone was on their feet, clapping and singing and there was so much energy and excitement that it was impossible not to be swept up in it. You could see in the performers faces how much they loved doing what they were doing and how attached they were to what they were singing, how much they believed in it. There was not a person in the building who was not standing and participating in some way—much different from home where three-fourths of the congregation doesn’t even bother to pull out their hymnal, much less sing along. After the songs they had some announcements (that day was actually a baptism day but I will get to that in a minute) and did the readings and the gospel. Again, this was much different from my previous experiences as it was not so much read word for word and then explained in a homily as it was told through stories and explanations and for once actually made some sense to me. The readers were animated, they walked around and talked like they were having a normal conversation, they didn’t read in a slow monotone voice. They gave life to the stories and made it much more interesting and relate-able. They were funny and charismatic and entertaining.
We sang some more songs and the donation was collected and then they announced that they were going to begin baptizing anyone who wanted to be baptized. All of the people who went up were adults and some of them decided that day, right then and there, that they wanted to be baptized, it wasn’t scheduled or planned they just felt that baptism was what God wanted of them. It was actually really powerful and while we did not stay for the entire thing it seemed to me that it meant a heck of a lot more to them than it would to a baby. Again, I mean no offense these are just my observations of a different culture and religion.
After church we headed back to the ship for lunch and then spent the rest of the day with Tori walking around the city center, going to a local bookstore sale, checking out a really good bakery and talking with some of the locals. All in all it was a fun and relaxing Sunday, though it was still rainy and fogy outside—who’d a thunk it.
~Colleen
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