Come as you are

In all my time here in Isaan, I have eaten Isaan food, tried to speak Isaan, and laid awake in bed to many a blaring Isaan karaoke party. But the vast majority of Isaan churches don’t do ‘Isaan church’! Missionary traditions die hard. We Westerners have a lot to answer for. An Isaan believer will spend most days living a simple, Isaan village life. But on Sundays at Church, things are different. Suddenly you need chairs to sit on, in rows. You stand to sing, sit for the sermon. You serve Communion from little cups, have a stage, and a red or blue curtain with a cross on it. And you sing songs that were originally in English so have western melodies, but have been translated into Thai (not Isaan, their heart language)... and we wonder why Thais think Christianity is not for them!

In the words of the one and only Sanka Coffie (Cool Runnings), "All I'm saying, man, is if we walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican, and *is* Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican!" And so after spending so long seeing people walk Isaan, talk Isaan and *is* Isaan, I finally had the opportunity to see them worship Isaan style! As soon as they started to play the Phin (Isaan guitar) and the Isaan pipes, the ladies were feeling the rhythm. They could not keep from dancing! Beautiful, graceful Isaan dancing to Isaan instruments and melodies thrilled their heart, you could see the joy in their faces. It was truly a taste of heaven, where every tongue and tribe will worship God in the distinct way they were created!

A week later, I was able to witness it again, as we connected our new believers (see last month's blog) to their nearest church, which happened to be another rare, authentically Isaan body of believers, eating sticky rice instead of bread for Communion. When I showed the video to my guitar teacher, who is exploring Christianity and loves listening to western worship music, he was incredulous. “Can we use these Isaan instruments and melodies to sing to God? It's not wrong?!" he asked. What a tragedy that such a question should come so naturally. The number of churches in Isaan is tiny, and among those, the percentage that express their faith in an authentically Isaan way is even tinier. 

Do you come as you are or put on a show? We know that God is most interested in our heart, outward appearances won't fool Him. Spirit and truth is what He is after. But what about language and style? Can you worship in English or do you have to sing and talk to God in Latin?  Are you a hymn person, or a Hillsong person? A hands in pockets worshipper or flag waver? A drummer or a Quaker? Most likely, you are one of the privileged few in the world (see statistics below*) to have the Bible in your heart language, moreover in all kinds of interesting translations and colourful covers! And access to a bewildering choice of worship music to use in your heart language. It is so easy for us to be ourselves in His presence. Are we making the most of it? 

* Out of almost 7000 languages in use today, over 500 have the complete translated Bible. Over 1800 languages (~180 mill ppl) still need a Bible translation project to begin.