The past two days have been incredibly interesting to say the very least! I went to a Jewish shabbat service with a friend’s family, a catholic confirmation celebration for a (different) friend, and the family celebration for the students I helped to teach this semester at my own church. It was an amazing experience and it the past 24 hours I have come to learn (or relearn) a lot of things.
Don’t be afraid to look stupid. Let me tell you, going to a traditional service that is different than what you are used to is terrifying. In the Catholic church, I didn’t know when to kneel, when to say “Amen” or “Praise be to God”, or if I should get up during communion. And at the shabbat, half of it was in a language I didn’t understand! So, of course I felt really stupid half mumbling Hebrew words and standing when everyone is kneeling. But, I realized two things in these services. 1) God is not going to smite me for turning to the wrong page or singing the song to the wrong tune. 2) When the people around you see how confused you are, about 95% of the time, they are willing to help you. Don’t be ashamed to take that help, you need it! So, yeah, I looked pretty stupid, but if I had only focused on that, I would not have enjoyed the service and what people were saying. Being able to accept that I will be embarrassed made the experience 100x more enjoyable.
Love people for who they are, not who you want them to be. When you spend so much time inside of a church, you see people for who they are. It can be so easy to force onto them how you want them to act, but it won’t do any good. Do I wish the people I was working with were more responsible? Yes! Do I wish that this one kid wouldn’t be so annoying? Yes! But, do I still love those people? Yes! They are my family and I desire to love them like Christ loves them! With this idea, people are going to do things differently and you need to learn to accept that. Again, I might not understand, but I still need to love them. I may not agree with the way things are done, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t love the people who do agree with them.
The shabbat service I went to was lead by students and they all spoke on different college application essay prompts and related them back to their religion. One talked about how to compare apples and oranges. They said while each is a fruit, they each have something different to offer. So while they are hard to compare, they have a fundamental similarity. Just like people. We all have our God is common, but we are all gifted with different gifts to do different things. The other prompt that stuck out to me was one about Where’s Waldo. The person was saying how Waldo sticks out because he looks ridiculous. It takes a while, but you can always pick him out of a crowd. Again, this is just like us. When we have the holy spirit (okay- she didn’t say holy spirit because she’s jewish, this is just artistic interpretation) in us, we stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd. So, I guess the moral of the story is be a fruit in a crazy red striped hat!
It’s fun to get excited about things! I am a super religion nerd and I was just smiling through all of the confusion! I don’t understand it, but all of these people do! All of these people came together united under some higher power and they all have a similar history and understanding of how the universe works! That makes me excited! Some people would have thought all of these services were boring, but I loved it! Or when someone I knew was up on stage, you bet your buttons I was cheering as loud as I could for them! It made me so happy to see them! If I hadn’t found joy in those little things, I would not have had any fun! When you can be unabashedly excited for things, life becomes a little brighter!
So, I’ve had a crazy day, from shabbat to confirmation to confirmation (not to mention an hour long trip to Marshalls, an 8 am art sesh, and the best Mexican food I have ever had)! I remembered that it is okay to be excited, look stupid, love people, and stand out! If you have ever been to a service that was different from your own, what did you learn from it? I would love to know (again- super religion nerd), so please comment below! Have an awesome day!
*The cover image is a Jewish name bracelet that I made, another religion thing for me to nerd out about*
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