Karen Church

This morning I was taken to church by my Buddhist neighbor. There are two churches in my town, the one closest to my house they told me the hospital staff and foreigners go to, and the one farther from my house is the one that the teachers go to. Some of them have told me I can switch and go to one every other week. However, I would like to attend both of them a few times and choose one to be a part of. So, I chose the one closest to my house for this week because I figured if no one could take me, then I could walk there myself. However, my Buddhist neighbor took it upon herself to make sure I made it to church, and the other teachers in her clique of friends were happy because she was going to go to church with me. I think they’re hoping for a conversion while I’m here.

They had told us it started at ten, but at twenty after they were just beginning. The service was mostly in the Karen hilltribe language, but then was translated into Thai. I’m not sure how much was lost in the first translation, but I know I lost a lot of it translating it from Thai to English.

Some interesting points of the service

·         They had three separate choirs that sang specials, the youngest in Karen, the next group in Thai, and the older group in English, and later in the service a song in Thai.

·         They collected offering 3 times. I’m not sure why, but one was probably the main one, one for something special, and one during the communion service.

·         I was given an English hymnal. However, they didn’t say the hymn names or page numbers in English, so I would have to wait for someone to find it in their Karen hymnal, then show me the English name, then I would have to look it up in the alphabetical list in the back and then turn to that hymn. By the time that was done, I usually missed the first verse and started in on the second.

·         The only thing translated into English was the announcement to stand up if your birthday was in November so they could pray for you.

·         After the service was over, those who weren’t baptized left and we had a communion service completely in Karen that lasted about half an hour. I can imagine they talked about communion, talked about the bread, prayed over the bread, handed the bread out, then prayed again and we ate it. They talked about the juice, prayed over it, handed it out, prayed again, and we drank it. Then, they collected offering for the third time.

·         The juice was a really light purple, almost lavender, and mine had an ant swimming in it and after I drank the juice I could see the bottom of the cup was really dirty. All part of the experience. What a blessing a simple thing like a communion service was though.

·         Several older Karen women came up and shook my hand between services and just stared at me. They were so adorable.

·         Many of them wore traditional Karen outfits. I just loved them. One of the teachers promised to give me a Karen shirt that she never wears, and it showed up at my house tonight. However, I already know it might be a problem as someone told me virgin girls are to wear white, and married women are to wear red or black. So, we’ll see what they say when I wear it.  I might have to keep it for my hope chest J

I think those are the highlights. I’m sure I’ll write more about church services as time goes on and I attend them at the other church and decide which one to make my home. I’m hoping it won’t be a problem if I choose either one. I really enjoyed this one, but would like to check them both out to see which one I fit better with before making a decision to attend either one. Please pray for me in this, that I would follow where God would have me attend. That I could find a place I belong and can be involved with more than just attending services. A place that I can call my church family, and get to know the people of the church better and live in community with them if possible.