We get off the last bus after traveling for over an hour on multiple microbuses, packed with people, about 15-20 too many. We are greeted by two young men who lead us down another road where we walk, wide eyed and laughing about how none of our destinations are simply right where we are dropped off. I look around and we are once again surrounded by the mountains, busy streets filled with people longing for more. Dust filling the air of cars and motorbikes zooming past. Kids who smile and wave, joyous when we say hello to them.
We reach an empty cement building where we are lead up the steps, and pointed to the room where we would attend today’s service. We are greeted by many people as we walk into the room, one by one. Their smiling faces greet us with love, clapping and exchanging “Jaymuhsee!” (which is a greeting used in place of the traditional ‘Namaste’, exchanged between believers meaning ‘Praise the Lord’). One by one, we are adorned with the most beautiful flower necklaces as a welcome gift. We are ushered into the only seats in the room, one for each of us, as the rest of the congregation is seated on the floor. They humbly insist that we, as the guests of honor, sit in the chairs. The small, decorated room is filled with people of all ages, smiling at us with such great joy.
I sit down and am overwhelmed by how loved I feel in this moment. I look at my teammates in awe at how beautiful the flowers that lay on our necks are. I breathe in and the aroma of the marigolds fill my nostrils, reminding me of the great gift the Lord has given me. The service begins and songs of praise are shouted, prayers exalted, and people dancing over their great God. I look around and see an older woman who is deaf and blind, literally on the floor, praising the Lord. A little toddler is looking back at us, playing peek-a-boo and laughing while his mother worships. Everyone is full of joy, full of life, and full of the Lord.
I am reminded in this moment that we as believers carry a hope. We carry an aroma like the flowers around my neck, that draws people in, wanting more of it. Why do we so often keep it to ourselves? I want everyone to smell how wonderful the flowers I have been adorned with are, why am I not more desperate for people to get a taste of the hope I carry? In a broken world, we hold a hope that is far more precious than the most beautiful of flowers.
I am also reminded that I am a daughter of the Most High King, which therefore makes me a princess. I am a coheir with Christ, chosen and equipped with a calling so great that I cannot keep it to myself. Did you know that you are loved more than you could ever imagine? It breaks my heart walking through these streets, seeing people worship false idols, idols made of gold and silver, giving so much of their time and money to something that will never fulfill. It breaks my heart to see these spiritual people looking to gods who will never love them, never will provide, and are made by man. Looking for peace, prosperity, and understanding from idols who are so deeply rooted in loneliness, shame, and misunderstanding.
I look to America and my heart hurts over the fact that people have been treated badly by the church. Have a bad taste in their mouth about Christianity, or see it as simply rules and regulations to follow. I hurt over the brokenness of people struggling with mental illness, longing for success, looking for love in all the wrong places, and turning to substances to numb the reality of the pain and loneliness in their hearts. I am broken over the fact that people see the church as simply a place for only the “good people” to go. I hurt for the people who go to church every week, hoping to find what they are looking for, but leaving empty because of what man has made church up to be. I hurt extremely for the people who have been condemned by the church, or told you are too much, or not enough. Let me tell you, that is not what Jesus is about. That is not who he is.
The church is not a place. It is not a building to go to every week where you pay your dues as a Christian, then leave to return the following week. The church is a body on the move. WE are the church. Do you want to know what church has looked like to me since I’ve been here?
It looks like loving people deeply, praying over the sick to be healed, seeing the spirit move in unexplainable ways, laughing with my teammates, eating meals together, walking the streets together and praying because we are broken over the fact that there is poverty and loneliness everywhere. It looks like preaching the gospel and truth to those we come in contact with. It looks like encouraging people even when it’s hard. It looks like worshiping with other believers when all we have is a small cement building with tin roofs and our voices. The church looks like caring for each other when we are puking our guts out or coughing up a lung. It looks like reading the bible together before dinner, and giving each other hard feedback to help us grow. It looks like playing with little children, helping teach English just in our conversations, looking through photos of our host family’s lives and asking them questions. It looks like walking in authority over the evil spiritual realm because in Jesus’ name, the demons tremble and are gone. It looks like walking with the hope of Jesus in us because that is what we carry. We walk into darkness and we have the light, a light that cannot ever be overcome by even the darkest place. The church is hope. The church is love.
So let the Lord adorn you with flowers, let Him come into your life and watch Him surround you with His sweet aroma. You are a child of the living God. You are worth so much more than the world will try to tell you. You are royalty, you can be made new. You are not too broken; you don’t need to clean yourself up before coming to the Lord. He is a good good father. Will you trust in that truth today?
