An unexpected service

The first Sunday in Pietermaritzburg we wanted to take part in the service at the Lutheran Theological Institute (LTI) but when we got there we found out that there was no service. Not knowing anything about where to find a worshipping congregation at 10 a Sunday morning we decided to look for an Anglican church in town. On our way I saw another Anglican church, where the cars started to fill the parking area. We parked outside, on the street, just to find that the Anglican morning Eucharist was held at 7.30. So, who were these people? They were the Scottsville Methodist Church obviously using the Anglican Church for services. A good example of functioning ecumenism!

The people were few and elderly but there were still a few younger persons in the Church. What we saw already from the start was that the old people were white and the younger black. Not a strange phenomenon in modern South Africa. The interaction between people felt very natural, though, especially during the sharing of the Peace of the Lord.

The liturgy of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa is similar to both the Anglican and our Lutheran way of worshipping. We could see that in the Methodist Book of Prayer. (I think that is the right terminology). But the local priest didn’t follow the book all the time. Something which was a bit odd was that he preached after the intercession. Anyhow, the sermon was really contextual. Especially for us! The theme of the day was the same as in the rest of the mainline churches all over the world, like Church of Sweden: The Baptism of Jesus. The Old Testament Reading was taken from Joshua 3:1-8, 14-17. We smiled when we heard about how the priests stood in the flood with the Covenant Box (Arc) and how the water stopped flowing and the people of Israel crossed the river ON DRY GROUND. Very contextual! When we arrived to our house we found it water damaged after a major storm that hit Pietermaritzburg a few days prior to our arrival. We are waiting for the people who will fix new carpets in our house during the week that lies ahead. We also want to put our feet on dry ground!

When the priest started to preach he focused on how Jesus prepared himself for his baptism and how we also need to prepare for major steps in our lives. When he talked about the importance of allowing God to take you out of your comfort zones we looked at each other again, smiling.

The Communion we shared with separate chalices and a soft, white bread instead of the ordinary communion wafers. It is good to see how different churches celebrate the Holy Communion in different ways trying to be faithful to the example of Jesus. After the service the priest and his wife greeted us and the wife took our contact details on a piece of paper. Right now we could only give her our physical address. We also met Sipho and Junior. A Lutheran Student and his son! My wife is writing more about that and many other things on her blog which you can find here. (It is written in Swedish, though.)

Juanita, Junior, Sipho, Kristina