Church visits and Bruce Lee

Yesterday I experienced my first real Sunday in Mizoram and what a day it was! Mizo spirituality celebrates Sunday, "the Lord's Day," in ways much forgotten by most Christians in the West. On Sundays, prayer services begin at 5 am and are attended by most of the community. Thankfully, Madam Hnuni didn't require my attendance at this service or I would have been struggling for the rest of the day haha. The next service is held at around 11 am.

Culturally, Mizos are a singing people so services entail at least double the standard worship set of songs found in American churches. However, the Mizo Christians were evagelized to primarily by Baptists and Presbyterians. These churches eventually became independently recognized but still remain part of the global community. As a result, many of the songs that are sung in churches are translated versions of songs popular in the West (i.e. "Amazing Grace"). Nevertheless, Mizos have also written many of their own worship songs which are sung as well during worship.

Service at 11 usually lasts for about 1.5 - 2 hours. The service encompasses many of the same aspects of a typical Western service: welcome, greeting, songs, sermon, offering, closing prayer. After the service, congregants get a small break before Sunday school at 3 or 3:30. Lasting for the same amount of time, congregants only have about two hours before Vespers service begins at 7. Basically, if you want to attend church on Sunday in be prepared for a marathon haha.

I originally thought I would be preaching but at 8 am I was informed that the dates got switched and wouldn't be preaching until the 20th. I was, however, in charge of giving the "greeting" to the congregation. A "greeting," as I found out, is really more like a mini-sermon than a welcome. The speaker really just says whatever he/she wants. So I basically gave a 5 min version of my sermon and talked about unity in the body of Christ. Next week, after my sermon, I'll post the manuscript so you can read it. The greeting apparently went well (I had to have a translator) and I made everyone laugh by the way I described Texas as "the land of cowboys."

In other news, apparently everyone in Mizoram loves kung fu. On Saturday I taught basic kung fu (punch, block, stand like a crane, etc) for about 20 mins. All the AICS students loved it and enjoyed making their best bruce lee/jackie chan sounds as they did it. I'm now suppose to teach each Saturday until my time ends here. On top of that, Sunday I made a visit to a local children's school here. I'm not sure whether it's an orphanage or a school (the language wasn't clear) but I was invited to come speak twice the first week of July. As part of my message on the importance of education, I was asked to teach kung fu for 20-30 mins. Basically, if Billy Graham and Bruce Lee had a child you would have me in Mizoram haha. But seriously, I'm enjoying teaching kung fu to everyone who wants to learn so it's great.

I'm making this post a little long because you probably won't hear from me until Friday. Tuesday I leave for a trip to visit the Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) headquarters. The Baptists and Presbyterians in Mizoram are incredibly powerful, possessing enormous influence (even on the state government). In addition, as the headquarters they have important information about all the churches in the state including those involved with the tribes and in specialized ministries. The BCM is located in the middle of the state so it's going to be a 3 day trip with visits and travel time included. But I'll be back Friday and hopefully find time to post about my adventures before the craziness of the weekends gets underway.

Well, it's breakfast time here in Mizoram so I've got to go. I have a big day of writing and preparation for classes/sermons so I'll be in front of a computer for most of the day. Hope all is well stateside!

pax et bonum.

THOUGHTS:
The monk life of AICS has had me reading the Bible everyday. I've decided to make my way through the prophets while I'm here starting with Isaiah. I finished the book yesterday and I've got to say, I love Isaiah. I think we would be best friends. Isaiah 58 is wonderful. Balance of tough criticism and hope. Interesting that we spend so little time exploring the message of the prophets in our churches when Jesus relied heavily upon them in his own ministry. I feel as though we are missing an essential aspect of understanding Jesus' vision for reality by not studying the prophets closely. More on that in a later post.

I've also been writing again which is great. On the encouragement of Jamie, I'll post one of the things I've written since I've been here. I wrote it in response to the countless times I've heard the term "globalization" since I've been here. Everyone wants to be "globalized." In commercials, conversations, markets, businesses, and churches I've seen how everyone wants to take on the image of the west. I can walk down the street to see young kids dressed "emo" and "punk" while hearing akon on the radio. But it's also tough to see the ways in which globalization takes away the cultural distinctives of each region. "To be globalized" all too often means "to be like the West." So I wrote this piece (bear in mind I'm not a poet).

Globalization
Hey kid, you want some of this globalization?
Comes in bags made of neo-imperialist westernization
I know, I know its pretty confusing right?
But don't worry, one of these and you'll never have to sleep at night
You can stay up to watch the flashing lights of consumerism
Selling anything from sex, drugs, to philosophical -isms
One hit and you'll be hooked to my drug I'm sure
You'll never want to leave; a disease with no cure
Sure you can fight it, but everyone's takin hits
So even without it, I'll take your culture bit by bit
See, my precious drug eats away at your heart
Dismantling your values like they're a broken car part
Take away your family structure; give you a Christian name
All so you can chase my false Hollywood fame
You'll forget who you are so I can tell you where you're going
I'll steal your cultural heritage without you even knowing
I'll make you walk, talk, and act like me
And with all my money and power, who wouldn't want to be?
The price? Simple, just give me your soul
I'm not talkin 'bout part son, I'm talkin 'bout the whole
Maybe if I collect enough I'll fill the void inside
Cuz my greed has destroyed me in ways tough to hide
But you still want some don't ya? Can find me on the corner in
a nice suit pushin packs of Mickey Mouse, hip-hop, and Ralph Lauren
So go ahead kid, tell all ya friends what I got to sell
Makin terminal addicts is my game, and I do it very well