Day 2, July 3
By Mandy Cloninger
Charismatic doesn’t seem like a strong enough word to describe the worship service at the Methodist church in Central Havana where we’ll be serving all week. We arrived at 11 a.m. Sunday morning ready to praise the Lord, little did we know, we’d be swept into a river of the Holy Spirit flowing like a summer storm and dousing the people with its sweet, sweet rain.
El espirtu santo es muy fuerte en este lugar. En este lugar. Es muy fuerte. The holy spirit is very strong in this place. In this place. It’s very strong.
The Holy Spirit was with us all morning, in fact for a solid two-hour long service! Belinda described Pastor Guillermo like David dancing for the Lord, that he was a fool for the Lord in the best kind of way. One of my favorite contemporary songs we sang said God even saved a crazy person like me. Un poco loco, a little bit crazy, everyone was un poco loco en amor por Dios (a little crazy in love with the Lord). The sweat on Pastor Guillermo’s tie kept working its way to the tip as the service progressed. Imagine the sweat just steadily working its way to the end, a very visual picture of the energy that he shared with his congregation.
Slater said the exuberance he experienced from worship was beyond anything that he’d seen contained in four walls. The experience of worship with the Cuban people was an amazing first for many, and charismatic is just not a strong enough word to describe it. Charismatic. Exuberant. Exciting. Contagious. Exhilarating. Frenetic. Amazing. Over the top. En fuego. On fire. Muy fuerte. Very strong. None of these seem to quite describe what we experienced. Words really cannot describe it adequately. It’s the tremendous joy that came from within.
There were trumpets, singing, dancing, flags waving, men and children running, jumping, shouting, praying aloud, everyone praising the Lord in their loudest voices and in a community where no one was anonymous. It was a total sensory experience. The Liturgical dancers were dressed all in white. They shook their tambourines with ribbons flying, flags waving, twirling and turning. The energy was and is contagious. I found myself bouncing and cha cha-ing and allowing the sweat to pour down my back with no hesitation as we rode the wave of the Holy Spirit and it worked its way through the people. Members were slain by the Holy Spirit, prayers were announced out loud, and the gift of speaking in tongues was present in the people.
As Rebecca described, knowing the Methodist motto: open hearts, open doors and open minds, really helped her embrace this worship style. As the sunlight streamed through the open windows and the music spilled on to the streets, her mind, and many of ours, were opened to what the power of the Holy Spirit has accomplished in this place.
We joked that our hearts were spilling over with the love our Cuban brothers and sisters showed us at the end of the service. Slater even said he hadn’t gotten so many kisses at one time since his wedding night, and we teased Angelique that she was really getting around as one of the Cuban men kept coming back into the line because he didn’t kiss her the first time! Muchos besos! Many, many kisses! We were wrapped up in their love, with hugs, kisses, and messages of, “Te bendigas”(God bless you), and “Bendicciones”(blessings to you).
El espirtu santo es muy fuerte en este lugar. En este lugar. Es muy fuerte. The holy spirit is very strong in this place. In this place. It’s very strong.
Editor's note: I have a video to share, but it's too large and slow to upload :(
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