Joe's in Haiti: 4 Hours Long.

Today, Pastor Brian, Ettiene, Pastor John, and I traveled about 1.5 hours to Pastor Jupe's church in the countryside. Pastor Brian was asked to preach at the church.

A few things to point out about the current situation concerning Sunday Worship in Haiti (taken mostly from discussion with Pastor Brian). First, it is disappointingly not Christ-centered. I mean, its great that today they were jumping up and down and clapping their hands and dancing around, but do they really know who they are worshiping? As Pastor Brian mentioned numerous times, Haitian Worship seems to be more about the emotions, the dancing, the music, the crying out, the "Hallelujahs" and "Amens", but they don't know Christ. They focus more, during sermons, on appearance, the Sunday apparel, the role of the necktie and the dress, and the evils of facial creams and perfumes. Second, approximately 80% of Haitian pastors have only high school level schooling. It is not surprising then that many Haitians are spiritually confused and misled - simultaneously embracing other religions (ie. Voodooism) and not knowing the difference between Christianity and Cults (ie. Jehovah's Witnesses). They quote 1 John where it says the Spirit will teach you and that you do not need to be taught by others. Though this is Scripture, the Haitian pastors should have the rationality to know that they don't know a thing about the Bible, instead of just trying to justify themselves. Third, Haitian pastors talk too much. As Ettienne put it, "If six pastors are present at a Sunday Service, all six pastors will stand up and preach." What happens then? It's bad enough that most of these pastors don't know what they're talking about, but then all the messages get muddied together, leaving the listeners with a huge pot of mush that eventually goes into the trash.

Pastor Brian gave this wonderful sermon today about who Christ is and what it is to be Christ-like.
To be Christ-like is to:
1. Love others
2. Be humble
3. Serve others

It was very clear and to the point. He added bits of context (how Paul was in jail when he wrote Philippians), and bits of application. But what happened? After Pastor Brian was done giving his sermon, Haitian pastor (Pastor John) jumps up and begins his own 4 point sermon. But these 4 points were nonsense! And in the middle of his rambling, he tells the congregation he forgot his fourth point, and he jokes about how he's going to go home, look at his notes, and come back with the fourth point. So he sits down. What happens next? In the middle of the announcements, Pastor John stands back up, grabs the mic and tells the congregation he remembers now, and begins talking again! I mean, come on!

What is going on? Pastor John wasn't even supposed to come today. He is the associate pastor at another church. He heard the rumor that Pastor Brian was going to preach at the church, so he shows up at the front door at 7am today saying, "I will go with you." Fine. But then to muddy Pastor Brian's sermon with his own 4 points of nonsense when he wasn't even supposed to preach? I was hugely disappointed.

I asked Pastor Brian if he was disappointed. He said, "I used to get disappointed. But it happens all the time so now I don't care. They just don't know. Besides, Pastor John is the associate pastor at Pastor Mark's church, so he never gets to preach. He probably seized this opportunity to get a turn at the mic."

Anyhow, I know this entry was more of me venting. I apologize. I should be patient and understanding. It was hard though. The service was a healthy 4 hours long.