A New Year’s Day Church Service
Friday, September 12th, 2008 | Uncategorized
On New Year’s Day, I went to a service at my new church. It was all in Amharic, which I knew from the beginning, but I still wanted to go. I learned some new words…
Geta neh–You are God.
Yesus geta(n)–Jesus is Lord (God).
Selame neh–You are my peace.
And thankfully, Hallelujah and Amen mean the same things here so I know what those mean too! : )
The service started at 9:00 a.m. For the first hour to an hour and a half, we worshipped God in song, dance, clapping, swaying, etc. Then there was a wonderful a capella performance by six men (they reminded me of Take 6), traditional dancing by the choir, a play that lasted almost an hour, and then someone came to give a sermon, but at that point I had to leave because I was exhausted from hearing a language that I don’t understand. It had been 3 hours of straight Amharic.
My church is very charismatic. People raise their hands, clap, sway, pray to God outloud, and say “lululu” really fast in a very high pitch to worship God. It’s so neat to see people worship God in this way, but I’m not used to it yet or sure how I fit in yet. I’m sure this will come in time. This is usually not how I do church, but this is the church that God has lead me to and for that I am excited!! Actually, this church kind of reminds me of the church I was raised in until I was 10 years old, so in some ways I feel like I’m getting back in touch with my roots!
No comments yet.