At home, we attend church regularly and the church is a big part of our life. In the Bahamas, not so much…I don’t know if it is just because we are lazy, we can’t remember what day it is, the fact that we get very wet getting to shore if there are any waves, or the fear of the unknown, but we have only gone to three church services since mid November when we arrived in the Bahamas. They have all been very different experiences. Given that it is Easter Sunday, it seemed like a good time to reflect on them.
The first service we went to was a non-denominational service on a beautiful beach under the palm trees with fellow cruisers. You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful setting and reminder that God has created a pretty amazing world. This was in Georgetown, Exumas (aka winter camp for old white sailors we have described before in previous blogs). We felt very much at home surrounded by fellow cruisers and David even played his harmonicas with the praise band. The band that morning consisted of 3 ukuleles and David’s harmonica which is a very strange combination for singing pretty traditional worship songs. If we had stayed in Georgetown longer I think we would have gone to this regularly. The service included a short and sweet sermon with a good Biblically-based message delivered by one of the cruisers and best of all, coffee and treats after the service!
The next service was quite different. We went to a beautiful old Anglican church (St. Patrick’s, built around 1850) in Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera. Just us and one other cruising couple were newcomers; the rest were native Bahamians. The service was not all that well attended with the church only about half full, but they seemed very active within the community and in caring for others. We felt very welcome there. People went out of their way to make sure we were in the right places in books, knew when to sit down and stand, etc! It reminded me of Catholic masses from the 60’s-very high church with lots of incense and bells, altar boys in robes, reading written prayers from a book of worship, and formal communion at the altar. There was a small and ancient pipe organ that played music that filled the church and the singing was impressive in volume, given the small numbers, and in the fervor and quality. The sermon was again Biblically based and apropos for people anywhere. The priest was a very large and solemn looking man who seemed at times to be just going through the motions. However, his sermon was very relevant, enthusiastically delivered and overall very engaging. The service moved along so quickly that I didn’t really feel like I had enough time for prayer and reflection, but when I left, I felt like I had experienced something special by worshipping with this community. David and I both felt a greater sense of peace from having spent that hour in the company of “faithful strangers”.
Today we went to a Methodist church here in Hopetown, Abacos. Strangely, it is the only church in this settlement. Most other towns we have been too have a church practically on every block! The service could have been anywhere in the US except for the spectacular view of the Atlantic ocean through the two sets of French doors up front. As David said, if the service got slow, at least you have something to look at! We went to the earlier family service that was billed as contemporary. It was absolutely packed with people standing around the edges and even outside the big windows. People very kindly shuffled around so that David and I could sit together which was very nice. This is spring break week for many and Hopetown is packed with vacationers. It’s a quaint little town with narrow lanes, lush foliage and beautiful little pastel-painted houses and rental cottages. When first timers were asked to introduce themselves, I inwardly groaned thinking this will take forever, but there weren’t actually that many. It seems many people have second homes/rental property on the island and come here frequently. The lady next to me said that she bought a house on the island because of that church! I felt a bit like I was surrounded by “the beautiful people”-everyone was tan and fit and well-dressed with lots of big diamonds flashing. I felt a bit grubby with my little dry bag “purse” and clunky Teva sandals. The youth pastor and his wife did a great job running the service and there were several youth involved with the music and service including putting on a skit of the Easter story. The guitar-led music was inspiring and everyone participated in the singing. Again, the message was very good-it was geared to the youth so simple to understand and follow. It felt like we had been to an Easter service with proclaiming the resurrection the focus in the songs and prayer. Except for the fact that a fire marshall never would have allowed that many people in the church in the US, it just did not feel like we were in the Bahamas!
Scenes from Hopetown:
David and I brought some books along to do some Bible study together, but we haven’t been very good or regular in doing it. Again, not sure why-maybe retirement has made us lazy! I do think there is something very important in worshipping with others in a group and we are very much looking forward to coming back to our home church when we get back this summer.
We do wonder why we don’t go to more services when we are near a settlement on Sunday. Part of it is certainly “fear of the unknown” – will we understand the order of worship, will we be too casually dressed, will we be welcomed… Most people, us included, have fear, or at least a concern, about awkward situations where we might feel out of place or might make a “mistake”. That’s a pretty irrational concern though, and we hopefully can make a greater effort to take advantage of worship opportunities over the rest of our time cruising.