Sunday nights at chapel is a much bigger deal than morning devotions. During the week, the students are permitted to lead the service, but Sunday evenings are reserved for faculty and persons of consequence in the broader community. The service alternates weeks in Mizo and English.
On the Wednesday after I led the devotions, there was a(nother) short impromptu faculty meeting after the morning service and they asked me to lead the service that coming Sunday evening. I was a bit shocked. I asked if there was any special theme and they said, no, I could speak as I liked. I determined to give my testimony and whatever else came along after that. For one thing, there are no native Jews here, only ones converted by rabbis who agree that the Mizo are lost tribes. Afterwards it occurred to me that these people have probably never heard the testimony of someone who became a believer later in life after having been out 'in the world'. These people are all born into active Christian families.
On Sunday evenings they also have a chairperson who leads the service and the speaker only gives the sermon. At first, the chairperson asked me if I could say the blessing over the tithe and offering, which I agreed to. Then I asked him if I could do the benediction and he said that was customary for the speaker. When the time for blessing the offerings came though, he called on someone else.
At the appropriate time I said my piece, again from the lectern. I spoke a bit too quickly, for which I was chided afterwards. Truth to tell, I had woken up with a seriously runny nose that morning and determined by late afternoon that a decongestant was in order. It helped my nose, but it also made my mouth really dry. And I do get excited when I am talking about all the things that I see YH doing in the earth. In the end, I talked about this time of mutual investigation of 'Jewish' things in the Biblical studies seminar (which, after the first session, has been postponed a number of times) and how the beauty of what YH speaks of and prescribes for us in His word feeds our souls and spirits.
I was really looking forward to doing the benediction because it had been so well received on Monday morning, but, alas, when the time came, the chairperson called on the Principal to deliver it. As we exited the chapel, he told me he did that for security reasons. I began to imagine that if I had delivered the benediction, someone might have shot me, which is completely out of the range of possibility here. He went on to say that it had to do with my visa. Somehow it has come into someone's mind that I do not ascend to the upper pulpit because preaching is against my tourist visa, as if some stranger in the chapel that night might have ratted me out. I know exactly where this is coming from: someone has manufactured the idea that they are covering my backside politically when they are really covering their own backside religiously, that I could not possibly have another reason for not ascending to the pulpit, i.e., not keeping their religious tradition, outside of putting my visa in jeopardy. I think that some people do not think it is okay for me to do what is comfortable for me to do, but instead think they might look bad if I do not follow the traditions of their church. In general, the Mizo people appear to be very non-condemning and I think this is an unusual situation, but indeed I am an unusual person, especially here.
On the Wednesday after I led the devotions, there was a(nother) short impromptu faculty meeting after the morning service and they asked me to lead the service that coming Sunday evening. I was a bit shocked. I asked if there was any special theme and they said, no, I could speak as I liked. I determined to give my testimony and whatever else came along after that. For one thing, there are no native Jews here, only ones converted by rabbis who agree that the Mizo are lost tribes. Afterwards it occurred to me that these people have probably never heard the testimony of someone who became a believer later in life after having been out 'in the world'. These people are all born into active Christian families.
On Sunday evenings they also have a chairperson who leads the service and the speaker only gives the sermon. At first, the chairperson asked me if I could say the blessing over the tithe and offering, which I agreed to. Then I asked him if I could do the benediction and he said that was customary for the speaker. When the time for blessing the offerings came though, he called on someone else.
At the appropriate time I said my piece, again from the lectern. I spoke a bit too quickly, for which I was chided afterwards. Truth to tell, I had woken up with a seriously runny nose that morning and determined by late afternoon that a decongestant was in order. It helped my nose, but it also made my mouth really dry. And I do get excited when I am talking about all the things that I see YH doing in the earth. In the end, I talked about this time of mutual investigation of 'Jewish' things in the Biblical studies seminar (which, after the first session, has been postponed a number of times) and how the beauty of what YH speaks of and prescribes for us in His word feeds our souls and spirits.
I was really looking forward to doing the benediction because it had been so well received on Monday morning, but, alas, when the time came, the chairperson called on the Principal to deliver it. As we exited the chapel, he told me he did that for security reasons. I began to imagine that if I had delivered the benediction, someone might have shot me, which is completely out of the range of possibility here. He went on to say that it had to do with my visa. Somehow it has come into someone's mind that I do not ascend to the upper pulpit because preaching is against my tourist visa, as if some stranger in the chapel that night might have ratted me out. I know exactly where this is coming from: someone has manufactured the idea that they are covering my backside politically when they are really covering their own backside religiously, that I could not possibly have another reason for not ascending to the pulpit, i.e., not keeping their religious tradition, outside of putting my visa in jeopardy. I think that some people do not think it is okay for me to do what is comfortable for me to do, but instead think they might look bad if I do not follow the traditions of their church. In general, the Mizo people appear to be very non-condemning and I think this is an unusual situation, but indeed I am an unusual person, especially here.
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