My easter story

I’m not someone who could be called religious
Why I say so is because I’m not legalistic about holidays even if they have a Christian backing
I have my reasons
So anyway here I was this Easter, not having gone for camp with everyone else at church
The guys who stayed behind knew we still had to stand in prayer together as ‘left behind’s
So we had morning prayers early each morning in one of any chosen homes
This we did till Sunday when we knew the campers were coming back and Christ had risen
Then as we’re used to a church service on Sunday, the question came up almost automatically where we’d attend service
I volunteered the United Methodist Church as that’s where I always go if for any reason I cannot fellowship at my church
Service begins at 10:30am
So we went as a group and when we get there we notice the place is so quiet and not lively
Unlike a church on Sunday
Nevertheless we approach and as we near we see the resident Pastor having his breakfast outside the house
We approach and introductions are done
He chides us for not coming all the other days as apparently our fellow brethren from the locality were coming and they were known to be ‘left behind’s from MCZ
No excuses and we have to find a place to attend service
Opposite is the Zimbabwe Assemblies of god church (ZAOGA) but it’s not first choice as we’re not that close
We ask each other, what about the churches we fraternise with?
The nearest and first to come to mind is The Dutch Reformed Church in Zimbabwe
So we able to the church and service is just beginning
We introduce ourselves when the part of visitors comes up and we feel welcome
Now into the service
As we sind we’re clapping probably the loudest and swaying to the music
When prayer comes, it’s one person who prays as the rest bow their heads and at the end when the person says ‘amen’, we affirm’ amen’ in unison
It just could be noticed the loud ‘amen’s came from our bench
It cannot be helped and all the other prayers we ‘amen’ed a bit softly
Now comes Holy communion
Of course it’s going to be different from how we do it
1 Corinthians 11 was read from verse 23 to the end
Then instead of people going to receive bread and wine, ushers came with it
Of course not having prepared ourselves for communion and having listened to first Corinthians, there was no doubt that we would not partake communion at this point in time
Let alone the fact that we did not know what their ‘rules’ for communion are
As the bread passed we just looked at each other and passed it across
Then came the ……….wine
Altar wine
I don’t know why but we don’t do wine at my church
All parishes that I know don’t do wine
We do raspberry syrup!
That was a great change
Great change number two
Soon after communion we left as the service wasn’t just auguring well with all of us
Now, I’ll not be judgemental
The whole point is just to appreciate how things are done differently in our churches, what brings us together, what sets us apart and what makes us stay with our churches
The two great changes are that at my church we go and receive communion
It doesn’t come to us
No matter how large the congregation when communion has to be had, we go and receive it
In cases where we’re in our thousands like at a stadium for whatever celebration or event we’ll be having, we queue for it and that’s the only time we won’t kneel to receive communion, but we bow or courtesy as we receive it
When we go back to our seats, we individually pray in silence
Number two is the raspberry
This is my take- I guess somewhere along the lines wine was just taken off due to the alcoholic factor and abuse
Our members are not supposed to take alcohol
So what if we were to give it to them each month in a small cup?
Would not some of them just want to taste it a bit more and buy a bottle and see what happens?
Totally my take and I’m good with that
Why this bothered me in this instance is that children were taking it
I guess someone gets my point and issue somewhere along the lines.

I encourage you to just visit other parishes or churches when you have the opportunity
That way you’ll see how others get to communicate with god and what makes them different from you
You’ll also have a reason to stay where you are or even change when you understand what true worship and communion with God is really about.