April 8, 2019
A church is a church is a church
November 27, 2017
I went to church this morning in a Maori village. It was an Anglican church and worship was bilingual. We went forward and knelt to receive the sacrament, but I felt right at home.
I was greeted by a little old lady at the door (Wanda Wheeler) who wanted to know where I am from, how long I'd been here, who I was with, etc. She explained why the village was closed off for a big Maori funeral. After that people said hello but no one spoke to me until I shook the pastor's hand on the way out.
There was one member who was busy closing doors, moving furniture, generally fixing and straightening things (Don Craft).
There was a very elderly man sleeping in a pew and people kept going over to greet him and all the women gave him hugs (Damon Auble).
The pastor was a good preacher and his sermon was full of little smartalec comments thrown in just to be sure we were listening.
The hymns were all in Maori but I knew all the tunes and we said the Lord's prayer in English. Worship really can bring us together in our one Lord, one faith, one baptism.