the ole' jack is back, y pensamientos de iglesia

I got a job that starts tomorrow. After last summer I promised myself I wouldn't do this type of work again, but with the return of my health also comes the return of my brashness, although I'm sure some would rather call it my stubborness. I'm stubborn????? It just feels so good to be able to move again without any pain or tiredness that I want to use it at every opportunity. I've been working out every day, sometimes twice a day, and I feel strong enough to go back and pick up the ole' jack hammer and see how my body reacts. Maybe my back is finally up for the challenge, maybe not. I'm sure most of my students have a smile across their face right now reading that I will be using the gigantic hammer that I described to them in detail, vowing that I would never return to such a torturous mechanism. Well, I am....so wipe that smile off your faces.

One of the most shocking parts of being back in the states is church. Actually, overwhelming is probably a better word than shocking. This last Sunday as I sat there and listened to the music I realized how easy it was to say and sing the words without really understanding the words and without much of a thought as to what the words were saying. It was in English, and I could recite them without so much of a thought. I couldn't help but to wonder how much of the congregation felt the same way. Then came the sermon. I felt like a spectator on the outside looking in on some crazy folk, lined up in pews, comatosed, listening to a guys rambling. For some reason my mind could not stay focused, and just wandered aimlessly back to my churches in Bolivia, to how different it all was. The things people deal with are just so different across cultures, across continents, across ethnicities, etc. At least that's how I felt. The sermon was about Deciphering the Da Vinci Code, part one of four that will be dealt to the congregration over the next month. I assume that there is a need amongst the congregation to deal with the topic, to clear up some questions, and to logically hear responses to the claims (if the author had any) that the book suggests. But I couldn't stay focused as my mind wandered aimlessy. I would bet money on the fact that nobody from my Bolivian Church in El Alto will ever hear of the Da Vinci Code. Even if they did, would they give it more than a moment of their attention? I'm guessing not.

I'm not trying to insinuate that one church is doing something right and another is doing something wrong, or that I enjoy one style over the other, because I understand a little as to why both churches do it the way they do. I've just been struck over and over again on the complex differences that this world shares on worshipping the same God. It blows my mind, and often times saddens my heart, that while one church rejoices over the addition of a hundred bricks to their bathroom, another church rejoices over building a new, multi-million dollar complex. It all seems so different on the outside, doesn't it? One church deals with an adobe wall surrounding the church, mixing cement with their hands and hopefully receiving enough in their offering plates to feed the pastor and buy a few bricks. Another church deals with cleaning their carpets, finding more parking space, and hopefully breaking ground at the site of a new church location. It made me think, though, how different is it on the inside, at the level of the individual, at the level of the human condition, so to speak? Both congregations are worshipping God. One person says, "Te Adorare", and another says "I will worship you". One for the food, the other for a new car. One deals with pride, and so does the other. One tries to control his own life, while the other can't seem to surrender his whole being. Same thing.

While my mind wandered and began to seep in these thoughts, some peace came with it. I guess it still leaves a lot out there for me to think about. All I know is that the overwhelming church experience has only just started for me, the day I visited a church in El Alto that had to little, yet so much to be thankful for.