Sunday Church Service

Sunday Church Service

Sunday morning after breakfast we walked down to the church. It’s just a one room building with no air conditioning. The windows were open, the ceiling fans were on, and you could feel a slight breeze (a very slight breeze). Even in the summer heat, the Jamaicans were wearing their Sunday best. We tried not to sit as a large group and spread out over the church. Sitting in front of me was a young mother with a two-year old little girl. During the service the little girl signed to me. I wish I had known what she was saying to me. One thing that really impressed me was the emotion and passion they put into their service. Whether it was teaching or singing, they put everything into it! The pastor started his message with a fresh clean long sleeve shirt and a tie. By the end of the service it was soaking wet, front and back. He was all over the stage rapidly signing his message. He would ask questions during his sermon and hands would fly into the air trying to answer whatever question he had just asked. After the pastor was done with his sermon he said they had a special song to sing. They don’t have anything fancy for their music, just a CD player and an interpreter for us. The deaf girl leading the music was just amazing. Not being able to hear the music on the CD, she had to be cued when to start signing; a constant moving motion of body and hands. The special music was about freedom in Christ, the exact theme of our trip and our nightly bible study! Talk about amazing! Even though we were hot and sticky, we were content to just sit there and soak it all in. You could feel God’s presence in that little one room church.

Brenna Petree