Worship with the Masai, Sunday

Worship with the Masai

Dr. Karen and Dr. Michael left early to be at St. Mary’s by 8 for the surgery that got bumped yesterday. The rest of the team had the luxury of sleeping in—we did not have to leave for church until 9:30—which was heaven!

The village we went to for worship was about 40 kilometers away. We arrived at 10:35 and church was supposed to start at 10:30. But, as we have been warned, this is Tanzanian time. So 10:30 means sometime after that, but before lunchtime. The service began a few minutes before 11 and lasted until 1:30. We were mesmerized and energized by the joyfulness of the service. Even our one-hour Lutheran sat through the service and was glad she came.

There were 2 choirs—a childrens choir and an adult choir. Each choir performed many songs and we enjoyed the same type of joyful procession for the offering as we witnessed last Sunday at the cathedral.

The Masai villagers did not know we were coming to join them for worship, but their welcome was overwhelming. The pastor asked Emmanuel to interpret for him during the service, when he told us they loved us and they did not want us to think of the village as our home, but that it WAS our home and we were their family. We’re pretty sure the Tanzanians were puzzled when we got the tissues out and started dabbing at our eyes. What in the world was wrong with these Americans?

After the service, the procession outside again formed a circle for the auction. Today there were only 2 items to auction: a watermelon and a green, 3 gallon plastic bucket with lid. The bucket was empty but would be used by someone to haul water. One of our members, knowing the money would go to the church, determined to buy the bucket for any price. The bidding started at $1,000 shillings (about 80 cents) and went up to about $4,000. Our team member gave Emmanual a $10,000 note and asked him to bid for us, which he did. Being a very sharp man, the pastor saw that and he upped the bid to $11,000! The man was bidding against us! Not to be outdone, we added another $10,000 note and won the auction. The congregation went wild at the price we paid for an empty bucket but we were so happy to present the bucket and the money to the pastor.

In Tanzania, hospitality is a must. There is never a time when you would visit someone and they would fail to offer you food and drink. Most people travel a long way, for a long time, so it is assumed that you are hungry and thirsty. Unlike in the US, there is no such thing as a quick visit. If you do not have time to enjoy the hospitality, you do not make the visit. So we were treated as honored guests and followed the pastor a short way to a collection of homes, called a “boma”, which are all inhabited by an extended family. In this case, it was a grandfather, his 5 wives and all their children and grandchildren. Each wife has her own identical home. We were ushered into the home of the head wife and seated with the pastor in their front room where one of the wives went to each of us with a basin and a pitcher to pour water over our hands to wash them before we ate. Remember, these people did not know we were coming and they suddenly were faced with feeding an extra 10 people. But, as the pastor said, please eat well, because there is plenty of food! We were served a simple meal of rice, beans and stew. They proudly presented each of us with a bottle of Pepsi to go with our meal and ended with the pitcher and basin to wash our hands again.

Emmanual translated conversation for us during the meal as we asked the pastor about his ministry and the congregations he pastors. The church we were at is a central church and there are many branches that are served by an evangelist. As he is the only pastor, though, he must go to the churches for baptisms, weddings and communion. The area he serves is about 120 kilometers by 40 kilometers with many branch churches, which is necessary because the Masai all walk to church, so church must be reachable on foot within a couple of hours.

Our goodbyes were heartfelt and our welcome was reinforced many times. They were so happy to have us there, and we were filled with joy to be there.