Pentecostal Moments

HE IS RISEN!!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!!


Easter is basically my favourite day of the year! My family has this tradition that Mom will wake us up by blarring the song "Early in the Morning", by David Meece, through the stereo, so we wake up with the joy of Easter vibrating through every fibre of our being. Being in Paris this year did not break that tradition for me. I'm glad that both of my roommates are gone this weekend, because I woke up, turned on my ipod, played that song and danced around the room! There is such joy in this day! There has been a permanent smile plastered to my face all day! The tomb is empty, Jesus kicked Satan in the face, my sins are forgiven, the temple curtain is torn, and my Saviour's alive! When I get excited about something, I run. So I ran out the door, down the gazillion flights of stairs, out the residence, and down the street to the metro on the way to church. I got some strange looks as the Parisians wondered what on earth this crazy girl in a dress and a goofy smile on her face was doing tearing down the street.


I was a little late (despite the running) and got to the French church just as they started to sing the first song. It's more traditional there, which, not gonna lie, kind of took me aback for a second. Yes, the songs spoke of joy and celebration and there was gratitude in the prayers of the people, but where was the sheer excitement in their actions that I'm used to in my Pentecostal church back home? I'm not trying to tear down any denomination, don't get me wrong, but I felt a little out of place. But it was still the same joyous event that we were declaring, and that's all that matters!


A few of us went to the American church after the French service was over. This felt a little more like home for me: the songs were upbeat and loud, the people clapped through and after the songs, I sat by the aisle and had room to jump and move around - as I love doing when I worship. There's something about being able to raise your hands in worship and sing as loud as you can and dance around before God. There's something about being completely abandoned in worship, that it doesn't matter what you look like, but you just let everything you have be showing your joy. I often feel like there is no dance that expresses it properly, no raised hand that is able to reach high enough, no jump that can make it up to the heavens. Even our outward acts of worship in that sense do not capture the emotion that we feel and long to express to God, but we're celebrating with the angels and shouting with the 4 living creatures around the throne, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!"
Today has been filled with joy, and I've been reminded that this day (this weekend) is what all of theology hinges on and what all of our lives are lived for; it's why we're on this earth. What would happen if we woke up every morning with the same joy and celebration that we woke up with this morning? How would our lives be different? What would our attitude and our actions be?


On a completely different topic from Easter, a few of us got dressed up last night and went to Palais des Congrès to see "Esmeralda", my first ballet ever! I've had this dream to be a ballerina, and watching the group from the Ukraine do it last night was absolutely fantastic and I loved seeing the precision and grace and expression in each move. The Kremlin ballet was supposed to do it, but something happened and the group from the Ukraine took over, but I of course couldn't tell the difference, having nothing to compare it to. As for the storyline - let's just say that the Disney version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is very tame! Basically everyone dies! Wasn't expecting that... There were sheets of paper on our seats to explain the story, seeing as the ballet itself was done with only music and dance and no words. One thing I learned: your arms can get sore from clapping too long. We legit clapped for like 3-4 minutes solid as they bowed at the end. It just didn't stop! They for sure deserved it, but I think that's the longest I will ever clap in my life!


Happy Easter (a few days late)! Be joyful! Carry this message in your heart, as we claim that we do, throughout this week and into the entire year. :)