Things Not Seen In American Church Services?

The following is from Reflections on Life in Benin.

Sunday Morning Musings from Africa

Things I observed at a church service this past Sunday in Benin, West Africa that most people probably did NOT see at their church service in America:

1 - one of the sincere worshippers, on her way up front to present her offering at the table, reached inside her bra and pulled out her contribution

2 - more than one of the congregants made change as they presented their offering

3 - at the conclusion of the holy sacrament, the communion presider shook out all the cracker crumbs on to the dirt floor of the thatch worship facility so that the couple of baby chicks hanging around the doorway could come in for a quick bite

MORE HUMOUROUS COMMUNION OBSERVATIONS OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS IN BENIN:

- At a relatively new church plant, the one presiding over communion was in charge of making sure the glass of wine was kept full as the congregants journeyed to the front for partaking; I watched carefully as he made sure the glass never got below 3/4 full. I was watching with interest as I saw the line come to an end; yet he continued topping off the glass (in Benin, we use the real stuff for communion). Sure enough, while only two baptized believers remained, the cup ranneth over, so when the last finished, an almost full glass remained. Unsuspecting of his next move, I was rather surprised that the wine guy didn't try and pour the remaining back into the bottle; but rather, with total abandonment of everything-sacrilege, he "downed the hatch", slapped the glass on the table and headed back to his seat with a big smile on his face!

- A regular observation is one where these amazingly talented African Christian women will take their place at the communion table, bouncing a crying baby tied around her back, meanwhile holding another who is latched on nursing, with one hand free to grab the cracker and wine! Takes multi-tasking to a whole new level!

- At another church plant, it was the congrgation's first Sunday to worship together. I was pretty new, too, and was not as confident yet that I wouldn't make a cultural error one day that'd get me kicked out of the village. So I sat in silence and laughing to myself when I noticed from where I was sitting that a fly had landed in the communion cup (we are also one-cuppers). No one knew what to do. There was a fear of disrupting the holy wine, and as well a conscious perception that pouring out the wine would be too costly (one Sunday's offering is not sufficient to cover the cost of the communion wine). So until one older unpretentious man finally reached in with his dirty farmer fingers and plucked out the pesky intruder, everyone else simply picked up the glass, trying their hardest to turn the cup to where gravity would pull the fly away from the point where their lips would sip the wine. It was probably the funniest moment I'll always remember.

Rockin' Randall
Missionary - Benin, West Africa