Drunken Mystic

Becca and I woke up early, and not by our choice. First of all, Micah was off his schedule, so he woke up hungry twice in the middle of the night. Then he woke up for good around 6am. I was already up, so I got up with him hoping to allow Becca some extra rest, which didn’t work so well in our one-room hotel room.

We played with Micah for a while then took a shower while Micah was playing nicely in the Pack n’ Play.

The free continental breakfast was open at 7am, but the whole team met around 8 in the lobby to see where it was. We made it to their restaurant where some cereal with warm milk, sweet toast with jam and some Indian curry dishes were available. Curry for breakfast was interesting. We had fun at breakfast.

John, the worship leader at the main church, picked us up at 9 and we went over to Pastor Daniel’s house which was a block away from the worship center. We sat in his living room, gave him some books and materials from Alice and Ablaze Ministries, then walked over to the church.

The meeting was just getting under way. The men and women sit on different sides of the building, and the women have their heads covered in these long gowns that are wraps around their bodies. Traditional Indian dress for women is very beautiful. There were about 200 in attendance that morning. They do most of their services in two languages, English and Malayalam, the native tongue for the state of Kerala, where we were. The speaking is generally translated, although the “testimony” time was only in the native tongue. The service began with a prayer by one of the associate pastors, a very serious looking shorter man with a booming voice.

Then Pastor Daniel stepped up to speak to the congregation. As he spoke in English, a man translated into Malayalam. Since Sister Lilly is in the states visiting different churches that support Voice of Gospel ministries, Maju was his translator. Maju looks like Gandhi. He wore a long white shirt with a long white skirt called a dhoti. He was taller and thin with a white mustache, balding white hair and glasses. He was very cool.

Then they got into singing. I was sitting on the front row with some of the other congregational leaders, so I had to look around to see how others were singing and worshipping. That was difficult to do since I was praising God myself! They only had three instruments, keyboard, violin and these Indian drums, which were very cool (I forget the name of them) because you used the palm of your hand to change the tones after hitting with your fingers. The keyboard also had some loops on it that drove the music.

Over an hour of singing and we sang three songs, all in Malayalam. Everyone clapped and sang at the top of their lungs in a very intense driving rhythm. There were also times of spontaneous singing, which blessed me to see, even though I made up my own words most of the time anyway except when they sang a refrain that repeated “hallelujah”. It’s interesting to me that word is used all over the world. It’s a great word.

About halfway through the singing, the children were released for Sunday School. Laura and Becky went with the kids and they had a special big class so Laura and Becky could sing with them. Laura brought her guitar, Peter, and they were a blessing, I’m sure.

After the singing in the main service, Pastor Daniel allowed for a time of testimony and sharing from the congregation. The women went first, and as I said, it was all in Malayalam. I gathered the women mostly gave testimonies about healing or provision from their hand gestures. They came to the front, got in line and waited to share on the microphone. About for or five women shared. One sang a song; I’m not sure whether or not it was spontaneous but I suppose it was. After the women, the men. A couple men led in song and taught something based on the song, I think. Others gave a short testimony. Again, this was just what I was percieving since I couldn’t understand the language.

Then one of the Voice of Gospel Missionaries from another state in northern India shared about what was going on in his region. He was the leader over several missionaries in that state, and he spoke for a while, in Malayalam, and he really seemed to bless them.

The kids started to trickle back in, Laura and Becky with them, of course. Becca T. sang “the Air I Breathe” while Laura played the guitar.

Then it was my turn to speak. I quickly introduced everyone to the congregation after Pastor Daniel introduced me. Pastor Daniel was my translator. I shared what was on my heart, which was about purifying yourself to be a vessel of honor to be used by God for every good work.

It was my first time speaking with a translator, but it went really well. In some ways I actually prefer it. It helps me gather my thoughts for the next statement. When I was done, I stopped and handed it back over to Pastor Daniel. He continued teaching for another twenty minutes or so, based on what I had said. Later on he told me that the people were used to a longer teaching time, so he filled in the rest of the session. One of the few times anyone said my teaching was too short!

We sang another congregational song at the end, and then the team of us went back down the street to Daniel’s house to have a lunch that had been prepared for us. The lunch was incredible! We ate well and visited with Pastor Daniel. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to clean up and cool off. India is hot. And southern India is very close to the equator, so you can imagine the heat and humidity.

Then the driver for the afternoon (and the rest of the week) came to pick us up with Daniel’s brother in law, Sister Lilly’s brother. Jose (pronounced jos with a long O like hose without the E) was our driver. He was a taller Indian man with a mustache. He was very good natured. Later on in the week I asked and discovered that Jose is a Catholic but has worked with Pastor Daniel, a Full Gospel minister, for about 8 years as his driver. They took us sightseeing a bit. First we went to the elephant park where we got a little education in elephants, especially that Kerala elephants are the most beautiful ones. It was a large park and it was fun. Several elephants were being washed that day. They use water and coconut shells to scrape and scrub the elephants, who were definitely enjoying their bath.

Then they took us to where Thomas the Apostle supposedly landed and started a church in southern India in AD 52. The story is that Thomas travelled by trade routes to India, and upon landing saw some Hindu priests (Brahmins) sitting in a pool and throwing water in the air to worship the sun god. Thomas asked them what they were doing, and they explained it to him. Thomas counteredthat his God could make the water stay in the air, resting in a column. They did not believe it was possible. Thomas threw the water in the air and it froze in midair just like he said. The Brahmins believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized right there.

Thomas was later martyred, but the churches he started were still ctive when the Catholics arrived in the 13th or 14th century. They tore down the old churches, built cathedrals over them, of course, and made them Catholic Churches. Many of the artifacts and images we saw were from that time. The one of Thomas conducting “mass” was particularly intriguing. I wonder if he performed it in Latin.

While the guide was telling us the story of Thomas and the water and the Brahmins, Daniel’s brother in law tried to help him and our guide got a little angry, which was funny. Later in the car, Daniel’s brother in law (I forget his name … but he was also the violin player on Sunday) told us that our guide didn’t really know the story because he’s a Hindu.

The 47ft statue of Thomas being built was interesting. We laughed at the iconic painting of Thomas that made him look like Maude (Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls).

We then went back to the hotel and ate at the hotel restaurant. We had their buffet, which was around $3-4 each and consisted of nice Indian cuisine. It was awesome. We went to bed that night after an awesome day!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 16th, 2006 at 9:42 pm and is filed under trichur india trip series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.