Hard Narrow Benches

We soon will be starting a new work project in the community of Mirador Oriente aka Nueva Oriental. We drove up there yesterday to talk to some people about this project and check out the land for possible sites. We also stuck our heads in the new kindergarten building that was built last month. We saw a bunch of smiling, happy kids in their uniforms, eagerly learning. We walked further up the hill where the church and the Sunday school classrooms are located. The church building was built in April of 2007 and the Sunday school classrooms were built in June. One of the ladies opened both the classrooms and the church for us to see. I had never seen inside either one. To say the least, I was stunned.

Both the classrooms and the church are nice enough, simple and adequate. There are 150 kids every Sunday in two classrooms. When I thought about 75 kids in each one, the classrooms seemed much smaller than they really are. I could imagine all those little voices singing praises to God. There was not a lot of teaching materials and prepared literature like we have in the states. Then we walked into the church building. Two hundred adults meet here every Sunday. The benches you see in the picture is all there is. It has to be standing room only. I wondered, out loud, how many of us, myself included, in the states would go to church every Sunday if we had to sit on a hard, narrow (very narrow) bench without a cushion and without a back. And, no doubt, many people would be squeezed on those benches quite cozily. Many would be standing. I attend a Honduran church every Sunday. It doesn't matter how many people are there, or how crowded, or how uncomfortable the seats are, they are there to worship God and sing His praises and are grateful for a building in which to meet.

Would we, could we worship God every Sunday if we had to sit on a hard, narrow, crowded bench instead of a wide cushioned pew?

Terri