Now THAT was Church

(Finally, I've arrived at posting about my last day in Zimbabwe.  Hang with me friends, posts about normal life and adoption are coming very soon!)

A thatched roof, old, dirty couches, uncomfortable, homemade wooden benches, wall to wall people, and open air with chickens clucking around us.  Outside were ladies plucking and cutting up chickens to boil for an after service meal.  There was no parking lot with parking attendants, no fancy sound system, no artwork, no greeters, no cushy chairs, no fancy sanctuaries or hallways of classrooms. No paid pastor/priest or staff. 

It was the most perfect church experience of my life. 

On our last day in Zim, we experienced some seriously true, seriously pure, seriously powerful CHURCH.  It took us well over an hour of driving on old, pot-hole ridden roads to get to Goshen Farm.  This is one of Hands of Hope's projects.  A man with a heart for orphans donated this farmland, and HOH is in the process of developing it.  On this property is a "church", a make-shift office, a pavilion and three orphan homes. 

On this Sunday morning, we had church in the building that you see above.  The room was packed full, and a crowd stood outside.  They all walked to get there.  On the floor were about 30 kids, many of them orphaned.  They sat without parents, and hardly moved.  If a young baby cried, a slightly older child would comfort it.  The only decoration was a tablecloth and a plastic vase with silk flowers. 

They sang, they prayed, they spoke, and what was left of my heart was humbled yet again.   They sang, and sang and sang in a perfect harmony of voices of the young and old. The teens led dances with bright, smiling faces. Nobody held back. They prayed prayers of confession, prayers of gratitude, prayers of hope and prayers for the provision of those in need. They poured out praise to God for blessing their lives. We looked different to them. We were unusual, yet they welcomed us with open arms. They gave up their seats so we could sit. They prayed for us.  

"God's definition of what matters is pretty straightforward. He measures our lives by how we love." — Francis Chan (Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God)

Church. Many of us have gone our whole lives. Sometimes it is meaningful to us. Sometimes we just go through the motions. I think I have usually just gone through the motions. I have been missing it.  When I pray, I ask God for a list of things that I want for ME and MY family.   I rarely remember to make confessions.  I focus on what I need from God, rather than gushing with gratitude over my abundantly blessed life.  I sing in a quiet voice at church, and I may sway just ever so slightly.  I sit in cushy seats beside friends who look just like me.  I admit to walking out from week to week, living my life in the same comfortable, selfish fashion that I always have.

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." — Francis Chan (Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God)

This experience topped elephant rides, lions and riding horseback.  That, my friends, was church.