Besides the video I posted two nights ago, it has been
quite awhile since I last posted on this blog.
This is not for lack of desire, but a result of technical difficulties
and the ubiquitous busyness that seems to daily consume me. Sigh!
But, moving onto much more interesting things, I want to tell you about
the second church service that Eric and I attended that first Sunday on
Yap.
This Yapese service was held in the beautiful open-sided
church that sits on the hill overlooking the lagoon in Colonia, Yap. I found it interesting that many of the men
stood on the outside of the half walls surrounding the church. Perhaps they were not regular church
attendees but had heard there was a guest preacher that day. Or, sadly, like many in Micronesia, perhaps
they felt ashamed and not worthy to fully enter the church. Regardless of the reasoning, the church was
primarily filled with women.
Eric was the guest preacher and was to deliver the
message in English (not that he had any other option!) and Pren, a church
elder, would translate into Yapese. Eric’s message was preceded by a cappella singing complete with the
rich harmonies I so love in Micronesian singing. Shoes off, it was soon time for Eric to
deliver his message. After a rough
start
developing a rhythm between messenger and translator, a pattern eventually evolved
and the Word of God was being effectively shared. If you’ve ever sat through a
talk being simultaneously translated, you know the translation part is a little
tedious if you speak the language of the primary speaker. Thus, during the translation part of the
message, my eyes began to wander around the room. Intrigued, I watched a drama unfold on the
wall behind Eric’s head. Scurrying out
from behind the large cross attached to the wall, a baby gecko attempted to
catch an insect, when suddenly, a much larger green lizard, bolted out from
behind the church flowers and hungrily grabbed
the gecko by the tail. The unfortunate gecko valiantly attempted
escape, but was securely held in the death grip of the lizard’s jaws. The gecko
became utterly still, and the lizard chomped further up on its tail. Still, the gecko did not budge. Once again, the lizard opened its jaws to
engulf more gecko tail when suddenly the gecko pushed off from the wall, doing
an amazing and beautiful back flip in the air, and landed squarely in the
center of the altar. I had to stifle the
giggles as this Animal Planet drama unfolded behind Eric and Pren who were
completely oblivious.
At the conclusion of the sermon, Eric returned to his
seat, where a dog meandered up and snuggled at his shoeless feet; a clear
indication of his approval of the sermon.
As we shifted to make room for the dog, the elders fumbled about looking
for the offering plates. Oops! Somehow the offering plates were
inaccessible, so quickly a plastic bag was found as a substitute. Seriously, this was an ugly plastic bag—the
type of bag that would contain a loaf of bread! No one minded. No one was
concerned. Could you imagine the uproar
this would create in a typical American church?! The Yapese parishioners simply broke out in
beautiful harmony as the bread bag made its way around the sanctuary. I had to smile and thank God for the no
frills, refreshing simplicity of worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.
