Polish Church experience...
On Sunday we went with the family to the local Polish Catholic Church. I understood virtually nothing of it. It was Catholic and I am a protestant "progressive Christian" (I prefer that "classification" than "liberal" ... there is a difference in my mind.) I heard words I knew like "dobry" (good), the Polish words for Jesus Christ, "dziekuje" (thank you) and of course "Ameine" (Amen). The only singing I could do was when an "Alleluia" refrain was part of the song. I sang this enthusiastically. But strangely enough, it was good to be there. There was a devotion, Spirit and energy among the people and even though you could not understand nearly everything that was said and done, this rubbed off on me. I remember when I was in Palmerston North a regular visitor to our congregation was a blind and deaf lady. To talk with her you wrote the words in letters on her open palm. I wondered why she came to church? She told me that she could feel the "vibrations" of the service during singing, during prayer times and in the sermon time. She said it was good to be there.
A Religious Society...
New Zealand is a very secular country. It is very different here. In NZ often the oldest buildings in a town are the churches. On my run in this Polish township this morning, I noticed that the most modern looking building in the town was the church. The church had car-park space but also heaps of bike racks! The congregation was made up of young and old. I think in my NZ congregation we have one man who rides his bike to church.
On my run I noticed many houses with religious symbols and shrines in their front yard. ... I've never seen any in NZ. Around the town of Prudnik I visited today there were shrines and crucifixes around the streets of the centre city.
We were told that "Religion" was a compulsory subject in school. The rationale given was that in school you learn about every other aspect of life so it is seen as a legitimate expectation that the government should encourage the teaching of religion also. The communists had classes in schools debunking religion, now that they were gone it makes sense to have classes in schools discussing this part of life. It is interesting to be, for a short time at least, in this very different setting where faith is assumed and accepted. In NZ church-going and faith are not a "normal" past time.
Unity
When I came home my host was keen to see how I felt about the Church service. I told him and he showed me his fortnightly catholic magazine, pointing to the articles and communicating (somehow) what they were on about. He showed me the set readings that were read in Church that day. Then I said that in all probability the same readings were read and discussed in my church (we follow the Revised Common Lectionary). I turned the pages to last week's readings and said, "The same! I spoke on that last week in my Church in NZ." When I had managed to get my sentence across the language barrier, his eyes widened in amazement and he grinned from ear to ear. "Tak?" he asked. ("Yes?") "Tak" I responded. I got my computer and showed him where I get my readings from. "Dobry, Dobry" ("Good Good!") he said with enthusiasm. I was pleased that on the other side of the world, in a different denomination there was still this expression of unity that we participated in.
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