Sunday impressions

By Jonathan Wright-Gray

Worship at Concorde Baptist Church this morning was amazing--a  typical Haitian service.  Incredible singing that becomes almost chant-like at times as it merges into prayer.  Sometimes everyone prays aloud at once--almost feels like you're present at Pentecost!
Our group sang "Let There Be Peace on Earth", which I led and introduced with comments about the need for God's peace on all levels, including the need to pray for peace among Haiti's political leaders.   Last week Haiti's Prime Minister resigned after just a few months in office due to political wrangling--so now there is no effective government again, which puts a drag on important development efforts here. Later, Pastor Ronel echoed these sentiments as he asked everyone to pray for the government of Haiti. We actually made a pretty decent choir! 

The sermon (not given by the pastor) was pretty hard core evangelical (I got snatches from a young translator sitting beside me)--very energetic, bordering on angry at times, with a lot about turning your life around from sin, the sinfulness even of some church people, and turning to Jesus in repentance.

The young preacher’s tone was quite different from the demeanor of most of the people here, who are wonderfully warm, but often rather shy  and reserved.

Our group of nine were one of three guests in church:  also a Southern Baptist group of five from Richmond, VA, who had spent the previous week doing construction on the church’s orphanage, and a Korean pastor and his wife.  She sang beautifully, not sure where they were from.
Pastor Ronel had the two groups to his small home for a delicious dinner of rice and beans, stewed meat in a rich gravy, pasta, tomatoes and broccoli.

Most of the group spent the afternoon shopping at the market for lunch supplies for the week, and returning to the airport to retrieve two bags full of critical medicines that did not arrive with us on Saturday.  Tonight we will get organized for Monday, when we head out to do our first medical clinic.

Please pray for one of our group, Sue Moore, who is sick, coping with dehydration and a possible respiratory infection.