Church

Current Location Update: Avon, Illinois

We arrived on a Saturday morning and were able to go to the church service at ET 566 Sunday morning. On Sunday mornings, many people come early before church starts to pray. There is a prayer leader who is praying aloud and many members kneeling on the benches around the room. When it is time for the service to start, the prayer leader starts by leading a prayer rebuking the devil. I was initially surprised by the idea but the more I sat there the more I realized that it made complete sense. Why don't we spend a minute or two praying to make sure the devil is not working in our hearts and minds before we begin worship? It's a simple but powerful thing to do that might make a big difference in how we approach our time together in church. Much of the rest of the service was very similar to any you might attend in the states. There were announcements, singing, an offertory, and sermon. We had translators writing down much of the sermon and passing notes to us about it. I can't even comprehend trying to keep up with our pastor at Windsor Road to do that. After that, it was pretty obvious that it didn't matter that we didn't speak Amaharic because we were in good hands with Fekadu and Atkelt. We stumped them a couple of times with words but not very often.

One thing that struck me a couple of times when we were there was how passionate and selfless everyone prayed. It wasn't just a quiet conversation with the Lord but a heartfelt, passionate plea. I found it inspiring in that it wasn't casual. While there is nothing wrong with that at tines, I think we forget who we are talking to sometimes. God can and is doing such big things all over the world but He wants to hear what you have to say. So don't just pray like you are talking to customer service trying to get them to change your cable service. Pray like it's someone important that you love more than anyone else-because don't you? Pray like it's someone who cares to hear about your day-because doesn't he? Pray like it's someone who can grant you every one of your hopes and dreams-because can't he??