¡España es Bonita!

For those of you who may not know, I recently—very recently as I’m still here and return to Belfast tomorrow—got the chance to visit my friend Megan in Salamanca, Spain. She’s currently studying and working at a campus ministry for the Universidad de Salamanca when she’s not entertaining guests. (Which she does well!) I’ve had an amazing time, but one of the coolest experiences was church yesterday morning. I went with Megan and her flatmate Nicole to the church they attend here (one of the few non-Catholic churches in the city. Spain is still a predominately Catholic nation, and when I say ‘Catholic’ I mean the religion, not the socio-political standpoint of Northern Ireland.) Church starts at noon and generally runs until 1.15 or 1.30. It was quite an experience. Besides the fact that I understood about 1% of what was said it was really different. The guy who seemed to be acting at the pastor said some stuff which I assume to be the welcome, then read a Scripture passage, then prayed. We then sang a song (which sounded cool—‘Bendito Es,’ which means ‘Blessed Is’) and then the floor was opened to whoever wanted to say anything. Somebody would pray and read Scripture, and then someone else would shout out a song they wanted to sing and we’d all join in. And mega props to the praise band! As musical numbers were a part of the ‘free for all’ worship style no one in the band knew what we were singing before anyone else, but they played really well. We all had the same worship book full of songs, but they sounded like they’d rehearsed together for hours. My favorite was ‘Maravillosa Cruz.’ I sang the verses in English and did my best at the chorus in Spanish. We sang ‘Lord I Lift Your Name on High,’ too, which was pretty cool. (But in Spanish, of course.) After several people had read and prayed and we sang about 5 or 6 songs, we had Communion. There were 2 celebrants (one of whom was also the bass player,) and 4 people passed the elements around. It was low-key but very worshipful; reverent while being approachable and down-to-earth. The whole experience made me think that this was probably what the early church was like: a bunch of friends gathered together to read and pray and sing and learn from each other, and to share the bread and wine as they might share pinchos and sangria. Not irreverently and without thought, but naturally, like it’s second nature. It should be second nature. Of course now I want to try Communion with tortillas and sangria. I think it would be yummy. And I don’t think God would mind.

pinchos--Spanish 'pub grub'--and sangria

For more pictures from Spain, click the 'Bonita Salamanca' link under Picture Gallery to the left.