Positive Aspects of Korean Church

For the last two Sundays, I've been able to see the Church at work in Chungju, South Korea. Though I still have critiques, there are good things happening here. The LORD is still at work among His people--He is as much alive and well here as He is in San Antonio, Texas, or anywhere else that the Church gathers. It was good to see His people working together, serving one another, and accepting another believer dispite her different appearance.

The first church I visited, a mix of Presbytarian and Methodist, was encouraging and welcoming to me because I found it familiar. I took comfort in looking over the Korean hymnal for songs that I could recognize. When we sang one, my heart soared and my voice rose as my English mingled with their Korean, just as it will when we are gathered together around the Throne of Grace in eternity. The LORD spoke to me in my heart language through that hymn: "Here I raise mine Ebenezer"--here I remind myself of the LORD's faithfulness--"hither by Thy help I'm come"--by His hand I've arrived in Korea--"and I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home"--the LORD will keep me safe until He sends me back to the States. It reminded me of how transient my stay in Korea will be, but it was such a comfort knowing that He has brought me even here and will keep me until my time here is complete.

The second church I visited, a larger, completely Presbytarian congregation, was comforting in other ways. This time, I had no hymn book; and I found no song or word that I recognized. The choir was beautiful and the message was apearantly well received, but I couldn't connect with any of it because I couldn't understand. Instead, I focused on the basic elements of the service that didn't require a knowledge of Korean but a knowledge of God. David had mentioned to me that it was a thanksgiving service. I was struck by how many times in the service they stopped and prayed as a congregation. Though I couldn't understand anything else, I picked out one word: "Ko-map-sam-nida," thank you. It felt so refreshing that they brought a sacrifice of thanksgiving as an offering to the LORD, as a ministry to Him, corporately.

As the service ended, the congregation was asked to greet those around them and thank them for coming (as far as I could gather). I was greeted by several ladies, one of them an old woman with a pink coat, who welcomed me emphatically with her gestures and facial expressions. She spoke in rapid Korean, none of which I understood, motioning with her hands for me to follow her "up." By this time, David, with whom I had come, needing to tend to an emergency, had disappeared; I was alone without a translator or an English-speaking counterpart. Spotting the pink coat in the crowd, I followed her out the sanctuary and down the stairs to my right. I was greeted by another woman in the process who said, "pan-gap-sam-nida," which is "Nice to meet you." I felt oddly welcomed in the teeming masses headed toward the Fellowship Hall for lunch. It felt like these women went out of their way to make me feel at home.

I later found David and we ate the meal prepared for us. I felt a bit like a celebrity because so many strangers came to me and welcomed me in Korean, one of them even giving me a hug. I was thankful for and receptive of their kindness and hospitality. Again, I felt like an Old Testament foreigner coming to worship YHWH at the Jewish Temple, accepted in the midst of the Levites and other tribes.