the Catholic Church

the universal church. thats what he kept referring to when i decided to not tell which denomination i'm from. Jesus loves them, and so should i.

today, is sunday... its been feeling like sunday for the past few days since finals were over.
and sometimes the holidays make one.. lazy. almost didn't want to bother going to church today.

but glad God drags me along =P
decided to try a different church from the usual skyline.
i remembered there was a small like shack looking church right behind 1B, in the kampung area.
woke up in time, made a cup-o-oats (gotta finish my goo before i leave sabah for 2 months), browsed a little, took a bath and walked down to St. Simon. an RC church.

okay so i come form a protestant church, not anglican, but baptist.
and i probably grew up all my 20 years there,
being born in a chirstian family, one would automatically follow parents to wherever they go and.. worship
and so... it was a nice place, alot of young bumiputeras there. sat beside a nice murut girl. talked to her a little, then service started at 10am.

well it was a bahasa service, and they have all this liturgy stuff. i... dont know very much about their traditions and rituals. like making the cross sign, kneeling down and worst of all, taking the body sacrament.

but boy did i tell you how i love the old school sound system of one speaker only. i could finally hear the voice of the masses and not just the worship team. and it was like angles. Mazmur Sahutan: Malaikat Allah melindungi orang yang takwa... beauuuutiful song.

basically in a baptist my church, we would all pass out lil small cups and bread (they can be the round flakes, square cubes or even.. gosh.. roti channai.. a few times only lah). and we'll all wait till everyone has it, holding it in our hands and ..erm... remorsing over our sins?

so i lined up, like what i remember they do in St Peter's back in ipoh. then i turned around and ask my murut friend if it was okay. she said.. yeah? haha. she's so nice and innocent. so i tried to observe what the people in fornt of me were doing so that i could err... replicate them? but when i nodded and took the flake.. okay.. Jesus body... i didnt eat it right infront of the father... who ever he is when i accidentally called him that. katekis i think. and when i went to sit down.. no one was holding the flake in their hand.. so yala, i realized i missed out the eat straight away part. dude! 1 Cor 11's been drilled into my head to wait for others.. anyways.

then this man with a red ribbon around his chest tapped my on the shoulder.
asked me if i was RC, then i knew i did something.. err.. wrong?
so i walked out with him, and he started to sternly ask me if i was RC,
if i'm baptized, if i can menyambut (take the sacraments) and blablabla..
so i found out.. only anglican's can take the sacraments in an RC church =(

sorry uncle, didn't mean to desecrate or show any disrespect.
and at a time when an older person rebukes a younger one... in public...
its darn hard not to tear up. but the joy of the Lord shall and was my strength.
steeled up and spoke apologies, calmed the guy down... and tone changed.. phweh.
shoke his hand, thanked him for being so bold to pull me out..
then he let me go back in to sit down...

gahh.... was trying to suck the water back into my eye balls.
the girl beside me apologized and said she thought i was RC.

owhhhh boy. the trick here is not to point the finger back and forth.
man up, and accept it. she didn't need to appoligize for anything.

and i feel disgusted that she feels any sort of fault,
its a church for goodness sake!

any song after that made me want to burst into tears.
sigh.. so i guess asking for a soft heart isnt the best of things to get from God =l
so after the service ended. err.. mass? i went to shake a few hands of some familiar UMS students from harmoni. then i went to see the man who pulled me out. talked to him summore and his loving wife, there were people staring and gathering around us.. mhmm.. not many outsiders go into catholic churches i guess.

then we both went over and i appologized to the katekis. He was a nice guy. gave me time to explain myself, didn't speak first but listened. i was lost for words at that moment, like.. just become dumb and blank. sigh.. i could find the word for it "i didn't mean any disrespect". he too asked which church i was from

but yeahh.... after that met the third guy, Jeffrey.. the chaiman of the church. asked about the history of it. and he too asked which denomination, after answering the two many back then, i decided i'm not going to say it anymore. so he referred it to 'the universal church' ... but i could get the hint, that they do strongly believe in other denominations (except for anglicans) haha okay i should stop.

but he did speak with love, and told me about respecting the traditions and local customs, which obviously i dont do very well... sigh.. these people here are so polite. then he gave me the illustration of an RC going to another my church and doing whatever he wanted. well... okay so i guess that wouldnt be nice.

but i didnt do it intentionally! well.. i guess this would be what iniquity is.
i didn't intentionally learn to do the 'right' things either.

reminded me of so many things.. about the GGF conference my sister dragged me to.
where reformist dont lift their hands in worship (okay my sister doesnt like me for speak as if i'm ridiculing them.... but..... i dunno.. maybe one day i'll learn to speak with love =P)

i learnt not to condemn and what grace meant from that one.

here i learn what respect of other church traditions are.
and its not 'as long as i think its right and okay for me to do' sorta thing.
learn the local customs. sit at the back and watch, not the front and put up a show.

Jesus said when one goes to a feast, sit behind first... and seriously.. i know why he says that now =P

mmhmm.. "if there's one think i know... is that i dont know what i think i know"

God, teach me 'respect' and how unity would come bout in Your church.
religion is not just another force that separates man, but ehno-denominational-centrism does.

so Jeff was the last guy then i walked out. couldn't take it anymore...
walked through the kampung surrounding it.

its a slump. gosh.. what did Jesus said when He was for the poor =(
then i looked up at 1B, the huge towering condominium (with i'm current in right now typing this),
i think about how rich we are, walls of brick floors of parquet..

D;

walked .. and walked.. and walked........
will i follow you Christ? who isn't too selfish to die for others.
i have my own life, why should i give it up to save just a few people...
you were perfect Christ, your skin must have been smooth and unmarred,
a perfect complexion and radient glory..
yet Yu gave that all up,
and left heaven...

left the throne of riches and came down to earth bellow,
just because you love me..

your not just a Savior, you're the Redeemer, Healer and Friend
thank You for bringing me to my first.. mass...

"in giving, then one will know what is living."