In the beginning of July, I stepped into the church that I would be working with in Morogoro Tanzania. This church was only steps away from the place I called home during the 10th month of my Race. The Tanzanians were in the flow of worship when a woman in her mid thirties ran into the building waving her arms and blurting out slurred words in Swahili. It looked as if she wanted to be a part of the service, not to disrupt it.
More about that later…
Photo of my front porch with cute Tanzania kids playing on the concrete. Photo by, Kenra Jane Murdock!
I haven’t been to an English speaking church since I was in Vietnam four months ago. That was the only time that I have gotten a taste of what it is I have been missing at home this year. I miss listening to sermons that I can actually understand and I miss the worship at my church in Santa Barbara. The international church in Vietnam was just what I needed at the time and provided me with some familiarity to my crazy life.
Since then I went to a Tamil speaking church in Malaysia and throughout Africa I sat through HOURS of pastors speaking in Swahili. Even though sitting through sermons that were entirely too long I have learned a lot about the church while I sat, participated and observed. I had to evaluate for myself why I go to church in the first place. Is it for the person speaking? Is it for the purpose of fulfilling my own needs? Or is it to meet with God and to see his will be done within the church?
The drunk woman’s name is Juliet.
She was kicked out of the church as quickly as she entered. I followed the man who was leading her to the exit. I was confused and frustrated that this man within the church could turn Juliet away so quickly from a place where God clearly wanted her to be.
As I sat with Juliet another church member sat with us and translated the conversation between Brandon, Juliet and I. She would wave back and forth while she sat on the stone steps of the church unable to hold herself up. She spoke a little English and told us that she didn’t want to drink anymore and wants to live for Jesus. Her heart was clear to me. Juliet wants to be at church she just cannot stay sober. Brandon, Kenra and I decided to walk her home as the church service ended. I was shocked at the way some of the people stared at Juliet in disapproval and were utterly confused as to why we were, in their opinion, wasting our time with this drunk woman. Some of them actually said this out loud. They told us to leave her. We didn’t.
I learned a lot about Juliet this month. She is joy. She loves Jesus. Whenever I see her I can smell alcohol on her breath. She is so loving and says, “peace and love” in response to everything. She is a hard working mother to three boys, lives with her mother in law and I have visited her home often. Every time I went to her home however, Juliet was not there, so I sat with her mother in law who spoke no English and I prayed for healing over her head and her leg that was giving her a lot of pain. The first time I saw Elizabeth, Juliet’s mother in law, she was using a cane to walk and after Brandon and I prayed for healing over her leg she did not use her cane anymore!
At Juliet and Elizabeth's home. I am with Elizabeth in this photo
I invited Juliet to church and waited for her to show up one Sunday. She didn’t show. In worship Becca got my attention and pointed to the path outside the window and asked me if the woman on the path was Juliet. It was. I ran outside to meet her and when I reached her, her arms were lifted to the sky and she was singing along with the church with vegetables in her hands and her baby strapped to her back.
It was in the evening when I saw her and during this time of day she is more under the influence of alcohol than any other time of day. My heart sank when I saw Juliet’s baby asleep on his mothers back, unaware of the state his mom is in. I got Juliet’s attention and asked her to come to church with me. She agreed and followed me. We sat together in the pews and Juliet would say, “Amen” every time the pastor said something in Swahili. A man in the church who sat next to me got my attention and tried to inform me that the woman next to me was drunk. I looked at him and said, “I know.” I wasn’t able to explain to him then that this woman should be welcomed into the church even though she is a drunkard. She needs community. She needs prayer. She needs Jesus.
The man wanted to have a word with me outside of the church. I continued to sit where I was, next to Juliet. He proceeded to write a note to the pastor and he went to the front of the church to give the pastor his note. A few minutes later Juliet left the church. I followed.
In Mark 2:17 The Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the sinners and tax collectors and the Pharisees asked the disciples of Jesus why he would eat with the tax collectors and the sinners? Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
What is the purpose of the church if not to welcome those into the church who desperately need Jesus? I know that God’s heart is for Juliet. Juliet is attempting to fill a void in her life with alcohol that only God can fill. How can she if she is not welcomed into the church?
At the end of the month my team and I went to the front of the church and said our goodbyes. I thanked the church that Sunday morning for welcoming us into their church and I also fedback the church about Juliet. I encouraged them to welcome those who are far from God into the church because it is the sick that need a physician not the healthy.
This experience was a good lesson for me to learn because I think it is so easy to stay within our comfort zones. We do not want to be around people who make us feel uncomfortable and honestly most of us are more concerned with ourselves than we are of the entirety of the church. There was a moment I felt embarrassed in bringing a drunk woman to church who brought so much attention to herself but I knew that it was the right thing to do.
The church in Morogoro
God does not expect us to be perfect. He loves us exactly where we are, even if where we are is drunk in church. It is that kind of relentless love that draws us to repentance and the reality of what Jesus did on the cross dramatically changes the way we live our lives!
This is why I go to church!
To be the church
Not just in a building
Not just on Sunday mornings
And not only with Christians but everyday, everywhere and with every one!
I come to church to praise God! It doesn’t matter what language it is in. I am at church for God!
