Blessed Sabbath

The past two Sundays here in Costa Rica, Michael and I have attending Quaker meetings. From where we live, you REALLY have to want to go to church to get there. Unlike in St. Louis where I think nothing about hoping in the car and driving 5-30 minutes to my favorite service, it’s a different story when you have to walk 35 minutes up and down hills in heavy winds, hike over very rocky dirt roads, dodge mud puddles, and are likely to get rained on during at least one leg of the journey. By the time I got to meeting this morning, I was ready to collapse into God’s arms mentally and physically. As I sat down on the pew, that’s exactly what I did.
During the half-hour before meeting, there is a camp style a cappella hymn sing. People pick their favorite songs from two different hymn books (everything from old traditional favorites sung by our grandparents to “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and a few Pete Seeger songs); someone hums a starting note, and the music begins. We thoroughly enjoyed the singing last week.

At 10:30 the hymnals are collected, and the meeting officially begins. The meeting is very simple—approximately 50 minutes of silent prayer. But the atmosphere is profound; it is one of spiritual awareness not drowsiness. Someone may speak during the silence if so moved, but apparently most people save any comments until the last 10 minutes or so, when whoever is running the meeting that day invites “afterthoughts” followed by introductions and community announcements. On the first Sunday of each month there is a potluck.

I’ve struggled this week to feel at home in Costa Rica and have also been a bit ill, which is one reason why getting to meeting this morning felt like an accomplishment in and of itself. The night before, I had been unsure if I would be ready for the trek. We arrived late, and the silent prayer was underway. Across from me, a woman sat yoga-style with her legs crossed on the bench. Her eyes were closed and she a lovely expression of peace and joy on her face. Her serenity made me smile, and my troubles melted.

Then little Odelia (a beautiful blonde toddler) began fidgeting and making noise. Her presence inspired me to pray for the children of the world. The Bible verse, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children,” became the launch pad for my prayers which quickly expanded to include all mankind as children of God—free from fear or disease of any kind.

It was a lovely holy meeting. We’ll be there in time for hymns next week, but today we were cleaning house for after church company—a potluck for other new “international” families. The kids enjoyed soccer, hacky sack and wii while the adults shared stories of how we all got here and what treasures, challenges, and tips we’ve discovered in our few days here.

I think many of us will share the same Sunday after meeting routine: check out books from the Friends’ (Quaker) Library (today I got Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for Heidi and Lincoln to reread before they see the movie and picked out an Alice Hoffman novel for myself) and then stop at the Cheese Factory to pick up dairy products for the week including milk that comes out of a spicket (you bring your own container)—very delicious.

It has been a lovely day of healing, fellowship, new friends, AND on the way home from meeting, I saw three white faced monkeys up in the trees. My first monkeys!

Thank You God for this day.