Make a JOYful Noise!

When the music ministers name is Joy, you know you are going to have an incredible musical experience.  Today we worshiped with Dela Cathedral.  After short walk from the EP Church headquarters, we were exuberantly welcomed by the large congregation.  Even though we don't understand the language, everyone felt the spirit and as a result was reasonably able to follow the service. Many of the hymns are recognizable with the occasional extra chord of notes to make the words fit. The structure of the service is very similar to ours, with a worship leader guiding much of the service and ministers offering sermons.  Young adults read the lessons of the day and there is a portion of the service given over to announcements and concerns of the church.  And there is music: joyous, celebratory, worshipful music.  There are over 300 people in various choirs of the church, ranging from the “official choirs” who wear cap and gowns that we see at a graduation ceremony in the US and then smaller choirs who sit together and rise during the service to offer their music in styles ranging from traditional hymns to a fusion of tribal and modern church music.  We are of the same opinion that a Ghanaian worship service must be experienced, as there is no amount of descriptive words, video recording or research that can convey the joyful reverence.  You can't truly understand until you are sitting twelve feet from the band and feel it in your bones.

Jill Haley, music director at St Paul's UCC Fleetwood, had anything but a vacation Sunday today as she played at both services in Dela Cathedral, offering both her oboe and the Ghana-keyboard version of Wrapped in Light, her original composition based Psalm 104, verse 2. (Find it on AppleMusic or at JillHaley.com) to over 900 worshipers. After working with Joy, the music director of Dela Cathedral, during the first service, Jill was invited to play the keyboard for all of the hymns while he directed the band and the choir during the second service. The quality of the recording below does not do justice to the quality of the experience, but here is a snippet for you to enjoy. 

This afternoon was all about rest and relaxation and recovering from jet lag we didn't think we were experiencing! But I can tell you that today's nap was glorious! Throughout this trip we will spend significant time reflecting, asking questions and discussing our experiences, and even taking time apart to nap, think or blog! It starts slowly at first, but as we build trust throughout the team, we begin to share our impressions and how these experiences impress upon our perspectives. Whatever we thought we were going to encounter as we prepared to travel defines our assumptions, but our collective experience and our ability to create safe space for discussing and examining our assumptions will define our understanding. Each day presents new opportunities to relax and emerge from our shells as we seek first to understand before trying to impact.

We have also enjoyed some wonderful local foods! Lunch today was peanut soup with rice balls (sorry no pictures) and platters of fried chicken, yam fries, and hot salad. Dinner (pictured below clockwise from the top) included joloff rice, hot salad, boiled yams, egg stew, plantains, and sausages. It was amazing! Joloff rice is very much like Chinese fried rice. Hot salad is a lettuce and fresh vegetable salad that is sautéed -which makes it safe for us to eat and tastes much like sautéed vegetables from China Hut at home. Egg stew was a new dish that was similar to casserole, with a base of eggs. I don't know how to describe the taste other than to say it was very Ghanaian and very good. Sausages are chunked Vienna sausages.  The general diet here in Ghana is very high in starches, and the plates of sausage are a nod to our preference for meat protein in our meals. 

Tomorrow will be our first day of visits and presentations of gifts as we travel to nearby missions. Look for an accounting of our visits and a flurry of photos.  

Links to the full, higher quality videos will be offered in the comments when they can be edited and uploaded to YouTube.