Christ the Rock

I’m sure I just got into bed when the alarm went off, but Jenn assured me it was 8am! I physically couldn’t wake myself up this morning, but I was excited to be visiting our friends at Christ the Rock for the service this morning. We quickly got ready so we could lie back on our bed for a dose before we were to be picked up between 8.30 and 8.45, but of course this is India and our lift to church arrived at 9.30am, giving Jenn and I an hour to snooze... I’m not sure how wise this was! We were driven to Raj and Vanitha’s and fed some dosai with potatoes for breakfast, before heading upstairs to church.

We had a traditional Indian introduction, presented with gifts and Captain Thacker talked a bit about the trip and also prayed for us before Pastor Raj began his sermon. The service was of course themed on Palm Sunday, Raj read from Matthew 21 and we all made crosses from palm leaves. It suddenly hit me that next Sunday, Easter Sunday, we would be in the Holy Land, and this excited me A LOT! This is partly because we’ll be eating chocolate and sweeties, but mostly because we’ll be there, where it all happened 2000 years ago.

After the service we spent some time with the youth group, sharing about the trip and answering various questions about our experiences so far. Jenn talked about true religion and faith without action. Using the two verses we base the trip on...

“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” – James 1:27

“what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it by your actions? That kind of faith cant save anyone” - James 2:14

The youth then shared their roles in the church with us before we closed in prayer.

We headed down to Raj and Vanitha’s for a cold drink and a chance to catch up with some e-mails. It wasn’t long until it was time for our home church, St Andrews, Bo’ness to start, so we tuned in to online streaming and enjoyed watching our friends in the congregation chatting before the service began. This made me a little homesick, and very excited to think we’d be back worshipping together in two weeks!

In the evening we visited the Sunday School, who were enjoying a puppet show. Afterwards Raj and Sharon took us for a bit to eat and we brought Sharon back to our apartment for a catch up. She left pretty early and Jenn and I packed and are now ready for an early night before spending our last day in Channai, last day of this trip anyway!

Laura x