Standing room only in a church

Here in Abu Dhabi, I've been to St. Andrew's church (Anglican) a couple of times. To me it's physically a nice size and comfortable and I've enjoyed the sermons.

Last Friday I decided to check out St. Joseph's (Catholic), to see if I liked it more than St. Andrew'sf, as I seek a "home" church while in the UAE. I was raised Catholic, and as much as the various Christian churches might not want to admit it, there are common elements to Catholic and Protestant services, so both feel familiar to me.

Two things struck me when I attended Mass on Friday morning. Both surprising, but both not positive.

First the negative surprise. I know that Mary the Mother of Jesus is revered and prayed to in the Catholic church, and she is seen as an intercessor; I just don't remember a Catholic Mass being 95% about Mary.  What threw me through a loop, however, wasn't my need to focus on honoring and praying to Jesus ... it was when I had to hold in a gasp when the Priest said -- and I quote -- "I don't know why the Pentacostals and Protestants hate Mary." (emphasis not mine)  Wow!  Hate? Really? Not prayed to, and not revered at the same level as Catholicism, but I've never met a Protestant (or Pentacostal) that hates Mary. (Hello! The Mother of God. Who's going to hate her?)

[Plus the whole other point in that absurd statement by the priest, who also separated out Pentacostals and Protestants ... if you believe in Jesus as our Savior and Son of God = you are Christian. Last I checked, both Pentacostals and Protestants had a firm belief in Jesus.]

After that one sentence about hating Mary, I'll be sticking with St. Andrew's when I go to church here in Abu Dhabi.

Second, and more importantly, is putting this erroneous and surprising statement aside ... what a beautiful thing to witness the positive impact these churches have within the Abu Dhabi community.  St. Joseph's seats several hundred people. Somewhere around 600-700 people if I'm taking a guess (not great with visually quantifying a number). [I am basing this guess by visualizing the Robert B. Moore Theatre at Orange Coast College, which holds just over 900 people, in individual seats.] 

This is a church that has long wooden pews, with people sitting snuggly next to each other. And the thing that struck me was the number of people that were standing along the sides, and outside the doors. Literally standing room only.  And it wasn't just this service.  I arrived a little early, not knowing the logistics. I could see that the earlier service was standing room only.  And there were lines of people waiting for the 9 a.m. service, ready and eager to get in.    

With those numbers and the standing room only -- to see such a spiritual need being met was profound to witness.

A note that is really here nor there, but is an possibly interesting detail: I stood out like a sore thumb. I was easily the only blonde, if not one of the only Caucasians in sight. My fellow worshippers were Southeast Asian.  No one made me feel out of place, but when you are the minority in a room, you notice.

If you look at their website, St. Joseph's holds 22 Masses Friday through Sunday, in several languages. And throughout the month, they hold additional monthly Masses in several different languages.  And I know that St. Andrew's shares their building by hosting other congregations (somewhere I heard it was 40), in a variety of languages.  The Evangelical Community Church around the corner hosts 30 other congregations.

What a beautiful thing that the UAE supports this out-in-the-open Christian worship, as it is a country with an official religion of Islam.  Stories I hear, this (allowing Christian churches to be physically and spiritually present) is absolutely not happening in other Islamic and Middle Eastern countries.

One more thing for me to not take for granted, whether here in Abu Dhabi or at home in the States. The ability to purposefully and without fear, enter a place of Christian worship.  Another thing to be thankful for in any given day.