This report comes from John Daugherty, pastor of First Baptist Church, Fort Myers, Fla.
The season of Advent, especially the first Sunday when the worship center is prepared with decorations for the annual service of the Hanging of the Greens, is a favorite time of the year in many churches. The decorating, the preparation usually involves a lot of the congregation, and is a fun time of community and cooperation.
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Southeast Asia with Pat Anderson, along with three other pastors, on one of Pat’s “Going to Hard Places: Trips that Make a Difference.” While there, some of what I saw brought to mind the images of preparation for Advent.
Hindu temple in Southeast Asia adorned for a festival.
The second week of the trip we were in a mostly Hindu province of in a predominantly Muslim nation. As we traveled around the island, explosions of color and activity would greet us on the occasions we came across a temple being prepared for celebration. The Hindu temples are only adorned when there are celebrations scheduled. The normal grays, muted reds and oranges of stone and brick would be transformed into rainbows of brilliant colors, of drapes, flags, adornments for statuary, flowers and other kinds of offerings to the gods.
But more impressive than all the color and beauty was the bustling about of dozens and dozens of worshipers busily preparing the temple for the pending celebration. Priests and priestesses obviously took the lead, but all the other volunteers were part of the community, clearly communities bound together by a common purpose and happily working together in a spirit of joy and anticipation.
In one remote, mountain village we were privileged to see the community working diligently preparing their temple for a celebration scheduled to begin that evening. Having received permission to enter the temple compound, we were witness to women making various trays and “plates” out of bamboo leaves for offerings, preparing flowers to place in the offering vessels, adorning of statuary, men working in the temple and gathered outside in the periphery roasting a pig and other food offerings – a cacophony of noise, joyful noise, as the community of the faithful worked.
The work seemed secondary. This was truly a happy, joyful experience. This temple family obviously liked one another. They found joy in the work. They shared a common purpose, a unifying reason for the day spent in preparation. And what we saw was only the first shift; the second shift would take over in the afternoon.
In all mission experiences I have learned something. What I have learned is that I have much to learn. Too often church folks tend to think we have something that the recipients of our “mission” and ministry need to learn from us, and certainly we are to be the presence of Christ and tell good news. But, I have never gone or done when I haven’t left with at least as much, and often more, than I ever took and left.
The Hindu community prepares for the celebration.
What impressed me about the sense of community I witnessed in the temple preparations was, first, the number of folks involved. This truly was a community-wide project. The second thing that impressed me was the shear joy of being together with a common purpose, the happiness they seemed to share as they laughed, talked, and told stories.
The Advent and Lenten seasons will never be the same for me. They will always remind me of how important community is to families of faith. I look forward to the joyful times of preparation, and hope to create more opportunities to celebrate that joy.