Easter Sunday

He is Risen! Today, believers across the globe celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Kibogora, Rwanda is no different in that sense; however, the service we were blessed with today was unlike anything most of us have ever experienced. After breakfast, the group traveled down the side of our little mountain to the Lake Kivu (which, ironically, means lake) and journeyed across a small stretch of it, via a small boat - truth be told, it was more of a large motorized canoe. We landed ashore a peninsula, upon which was built a church and school for people in the area. Unfortunately for the ill-equipped and less nimble Americans, the church sat atop yet another hill. With one of the pastors in the lead, we made our undignified scramble up the hill to the church building, an open metal and brick structure brightly decorated for the service. When we arrived, many parishioners had already begun singing the praise and worship with more trickling in as they arrived. We were directed to special pews behind pulpit to sit next to the pastors as honored guess. It was a humbling experience that they would give newcomers such respected seating. The service began in earnest with a series of songs in which almost all of the churchgoers sang and danced to the rapturous music. A good number of us joined in the dancing as well; their enthusiasm in worship was infectious (medicine pun not intended)!
After the first series of songs, choirs from multiple churches sang and praised the Lord, often breaking into bouts of dancing as well. Interspersed among the songs were readings from scripture, the verses translated into English by a local pastor for our benefit. Toward the end of the service, we had several baptisms as well as communion (also known as the Lord's Supper if you're Baptist) and a reenactment of the crucifixion; the entire affair lasted three hours.
Despite the fact that most of the service was in another language, the spirit of worship was unmistakable. God moves through these people in a way that kindles a fierce joy in your heart. What a blessing it would be if we brought back some of that same fierce joy. After the service, the officials of the church invited us to partake in an Easter luncheon. Despite being a poor church, they blessed us with quite a spread: bananas (or plantains, I can never remember which), rice, pasta, cooked greens (we'd probably call them collards if at home), a peanut-infused sauce, and a centerpiece of stewed goat. Meat is such a rarity here, that it spoke volumes about how much they appreciated our coming and worshipping with them. Their spirit of servanthood is truly magnificent.
Our trip back to our houses was more of a scamper than anything else. We tripped and slipped our way back down the hill of the peninsula and into our boat/canoe and began our race with the rain clouds. Most of us were out of the boat and most of the way up the side of the small mountain before the rain came, a blessing seeing as how almost all of us carried some kind of digital camera or cell phone for the same purpose. We each collapsed into our beds, the result of a couple of long hikes and a three hour, joyous Easter service...what a splendid day.
God bless each of you back in the states. May He open our eyes to the magnitude of our sins and simultaneously to the even greater ability of His to love and forgive us of them.
-Daniel