I've been wanting to write a series of blogs on what life is like to live internationally after spending 43 years in one country. Today's church service inspired me to begin my little series. So here it goes! Hope you enjoy it and hopefully it doesn't take me too long to work through the thoughts/topics that I've been thinking of.
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Today was a combined service of all the Christian and Missionary Alliance of New Zealand (CMANZ) churches which was held in the Chinese church building in which we have our regular Saturday night services. The place was packed, which was so exciting to see and experience! Kevin was the emcee, and welcomed everyone from all the various churches. Then we sang the New Zealand national anthem. Having sung the Canadian anthem since I was in kindergarten, it has been a new experience to learn a new anthem and to embrace it as the anthem of the country in which we now reside. The anthem here is usually sung one verse in English and then one verse in Maori, but today we just sang three verses in English. The thing that struck me as so unique was that here was a church building full of about 300 people, singing the NZ national anthem, of which probably at least half were first generation immigrants from other countries! And leading the anthem was Kevin, a Canadian, Jared, a Solomon Islander, and Steve, a Chinese. There wasn't even a kiwi on the stage! I don't even know how to describe what that felt like. I've been watching a lot of old movies, set in the 1800's when people were immigrating all around the world. For example, to have been amongst the people who arrived in the states from all over the globe and when they'd arrived at their new home and sang the anthem proudly as such a diverse group for the first time. That is an inkling of what I felt. What a diverse group of people from all over the globe. The majority of whom were born very far away from this country, each of whom has a very unique life story about how they ended up in NZ, and for whom each this anthem is new and they are learning to grasp the meaning and sentimentality of it.
Another aspect in the service that struck me as beautiful and unique was the worship band. Here was a group of young people, some from the Philipines, some from China, one from Canada :o) ....I'm not 100% sure, but it's my guess that most of them weren't born here, but that they've all immigrated from their home countries, and here they are, all united together worshiping our Lord. Beautiful! (Look at that lovely little white chick in the minority!)
Finally, the sermon. The guest speaker is the president of the Alliance World Fellowship. He is from Holland, but has lived all over the world. He spoke in English, which is his second, or maybe third language, to an audience comprised of people from all over the world, being translated into Chinese by a man who stood beside him, repeating everything he said; and over in the corner, being typed into Korean and projected onto a screen for the Koreans there who didn't understand English or Chinese. It was quite the production! The speaker's sermon was even more inspiring as he talked about Israel and the Middle East and his recent experiences there.
So that's a pretty typical New Zealand Alliance church. People from all over the world gathering to worship one God and celebrate our universal faith! We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it's such a cool thing to experience...no matter where we were born, what color our skin is, what language we speak....we all serve and love the same God who created us!
Another aspect in the service that struck me as beautiful and unique was the worship band. Here was a group of young people, some from the Philipines, some from China, one from Canada :o) ....I'm not 100% sure, but it's my guess that most of them weren't born here, but that they've all immigrated from their home countries, and here they are, all united together worshiping our Lord. Beautiful! (Look at that lovely little white chick in the minority!)
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