My First, and Second Worship Experience in Costa Rica, All in One Day. (Episode 2)

Imagine Sunday Morning.  Now imagine Sunday Morning in July, bright sun, warm air, green trees, flowering plants.  Your church clothes include sandals.  Sigh.  I experienced this kind of Sunday morning, the kind you get in July, just last week.  Today, as I drink my coffee and look out my window at the snow I need to brush off my car, it almost seems surreal.

The sun comes up early and brightly in Costa Rica, even at the end of January.  I think it has something to do with being only 5 degrees north of the equator, but you might want to Google that.  When the sun comes up early, it wakes a certain kind of person up.  It wakes up the morning person.  And they are cheerful and ready to tackle the world.  I am not a morning person, I think all of my roommates were…  But the lure of Costa Rican coffee was enough to get me out of bed and into a freezing shower.  Who knew that you have to SLOW DOWN the water flow to make the shower head water heater warm up the water?  And the coffee was worth the early start and freezing shower.

I had the pleasure of worshiping with the Methodist Church in San Isidro.  Their  worship is simple and meaningful, and I was closer to God because of it.  We started with praise singing, moving on to scripture and a children’s message given to us by the children.  After they went to Sunday School, we had a sermon and took communion together.  The entire service was in Spanish, and I didn’t understand the words, but the Spirit was among us and I deeply felt it.

      

Then it was onto the bus and off to La Bonita de Changuena, our work site.  We drove south on the Inter-American Highway, had lunch at an open-air restaurant, then turned off, drove over a bridge and started up, up, up on a dirt road.  There weren’t many switch-backs on this road, that’s because it pretty much went straight up.

  

  

  

Finally, we arrived at the top of the world, at the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista Church in La Bonita.  We unloaded camp, set up our bunks (this time we were on mattresses on the floor in the one-room church) and had dinner.  We were then reminded of the need to be flexible on a trip such as this (and really, in life.  Why not be flexible?  Life is much easier when you don’t get hung up on the little things) because the congregation was showing up for worship.  This meant packing up our bunks so that the Sanctuary was clear and ready.

Again, we started with Music, and Praise, then moved on to Scripture, communion, and a Message from the pastor.  We ended with Fellowship, all of us greeting each other with a hug, and the words “Dios te bendiga” which means “God Bless You”.

So this leaves me with two Worship experiences in one day.  Both entirely in Spanish, which I don’t understand, yet both left me filled spiritually.  I think that perhaps I have been approaching Worship incorrectly,  as if I go to Worship on Sunday expecting to receive from God, but without much willingness to give to God.  It’s all about me and my spiritual needs.  But in Costa Rica I learned that when I truly worship, when I make it about me giving to God, being grateful to God, being thankful, and open-minded, and flexible, I leave more fulfilled than ever.  Even when the service is done entirely in Spanish.  I encourage you to try it.