Kuala Lumpur June 2014 "Welcome Home"
02/06/14 15:35
I'm staying in an excellent hotel for almost no more than I would pay at a motel in the UK. I've been upgraded, at no additional cost, to a Junior Suite which means I have a bathroom as large as my bedroom, a lounge with spectacular views of KL City Centre and a bowl of exotic fruits. The fruits interest me. One has a scaly, red coloured skin and is as big as a Jaffa orange. Apparently this is a Dragon Fruit and I am in two minds whether to cut it open, not knowing what I might find inside. However once had I picked up courage to do so it was a bit of an anticlimax to find it only had a white filling. After breakfast each day I would be collected from the hotel by my friend and she would take me to all the tourist places such as the bird park, butterfly park, the aquaria, the Twin Towers, shopping malls and so on. When the first Sunday of my stay came along there were no planned visits as she was going to Church and I am invited to do the same.
Now I had been tipped off that this lady would be going to church on Sundays and asked whether that would be a problem for me? Well, no problem, but as I hadn't been to church for over forty years (except for a couple of friend and family marriages that is) I wondered what it might be like. Back when I was in the Boy Scouts we would go to Church once a month to parade our flag and listen to the family service but after I became too old for the Scouts that stopped. Now she stood in front of me and said she was going to church and I would I like to join her. I had a choice, I could say no, maybe next week or yes and find out what doing that was like over here. I also knew that a no answer was probably a red flag to her and as I was enjoying the holiday and didn't want to spoil it I said yes, I would like to go with you.
The church didn't have its own building for services but hired a hall. As we walked up the stairs towards the entrance doors we were warmly greeted by people who knew my friend and behind those doors I could hear a band playing lively music. This didn't feel like a 'normal' church service or at least not one that I had experience of. The doors were opened for us and we walked into a darkened room full of people, maybe 300 or so. We were ten minutes late and most seats had already been taken but there was someone waiting there for late comers who knew where there were two empty seats and we were led down one of the aisles towards the stage where the band was playing. As I struggled to get my eyes accustomed to the lighting or rather lack of it I thought how this was what it had been like to visit the cinema as a child. With my feet now confident of where they were treading I looked up and saw two giant screens, one either side of the stage, which were displaying the words of the song being sung. However, as I looked directly at the screen in front of me it changed to display two words, those being "Welcome Home". They were on the screen for less than a second but long enough for me to register what I had seen before they were replaced by the next verse of the song being sung. I was both confused and intrigued because it made no sense to display those words at that time as they were not part of the song but I had no time to dwell on that. We were escorted past thirty rows of seats, right to the front, turning then to walk past the stage and up to the next aisle where there were two empty seats waiting for us at the end of the second row from the front. Wow, this place was packed and they had two empty seats in the second row?
The service was nothing like what I had ever experienced in a church before. The music was lively not lethargic and the message was not a sermon. It was filled with good humour and put over in a way that left me nodding my head in agreement rather than it nodding off to sleep. Right at the end they have what is known as a 'salvation call'; an opportunity to repent of past (bad) behaviours and to focus on how Jesus (in the Bible) tells us to behave. All you have to do is to raise your hand and speak out a prayer but I have no intention of doing that, well not today. I have another two weekends before I go home so maybe I should leave that to the last week? Now let there be no misunderstanding, I've thoroughly enjoyed today but it just doesn't seen right for me to come to a church service after being away for forty years and say, "Hi, I'm back!" or something like that. This needs careful consideration and not an emotional response and to ensure that would be the case I put my right hand into my trouser pocket. That arm would not be raised today, no, perhaps next week but definitely not today. I had forgotten I had two arms. As I listened to the Pastor exhorting us to raise our hand if we were responding to this call I suddenly became aware that my left arm was not touching my body. I looked down, it was 20cm from my side. I moved it back and watched it slowly drift back to where it had been. I contemplated putting that hand into my other pocket but then thought that would be stupid. If the hand wanted to be raised then let it be so and I lifted my arm.
When my friend realised what I had done she was thrilled. I was duly registered as a member of this church (despite living the other side of the world) and we went off to have lunch. I contemplated on what had just happened to me. I had gone to church for the first time in forty years, thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up joining it, much against my expectation and original intent. Then there was the screen message I had seen when we walked in. I reasoned they must have spotted me, a newcomer, as I walked in and put it up for my benefit. There could be no other logical explanation I guess?
Postscript:
This story is one of the most important ones in my blog. The words "Welcome Home" I saw on the screen were in the same font and size as those used for the song lyrics, just two words displayed in the centre of the screen for less than a second. There is no doubt about it and as I carried on walking towards our seats I was wondering how (and why) they did that. In the years to come the church would start to use similar phraseology, indeed my blog title is one of theirs which I have appropriated because of its relevance to what happened to me, but at that time it wasn't one they were using. However when you read my later stories you will see there have been other occasions where I "saw" something that others may or will not have done. It doesn't happen very often but here are two examples, One Second and The Writing on the Wall. This has led me to consider whether something similar may have happened others, particularly what you read in the Bible concerning King Hezekiah and the shadow that moved backwards on the wall (Isaiah 38:4-8). I'm sure he actually saw that happen but it doesn't say anyone else did!
Now I had been tipped off that this lady would be going to church on Sundays and asked whether that would be a problem for me? Well, no problem, but as I hadn't been to church for over forty years (except for a couple of friend and family marriages that is) I wondered what it might be like. Back when I was in the Boy Scouts we would go to Church once a month to parade our flag and listen to the family service but after I became too old for the Scouts that stopped. Now she stood in front of me and said she was going to church and I would I like to join her. I had a choice, I could say no, maybe next week or yes and find out what doing that was like over here. I also knew that a no answer was probably a red flag to her and as I was enjoying the holiday and didn't want to spoil it I said yes, I would like to go with you.
The church didn't have its own building for services but hired a hall. As we walked up the stairs towards the entrance doors we were warmly greeted by people who knew my friend and behind those doors I could hear a band playing lively music. This didn't feel like a 'normal' church service or at least not one that I had experience of. The doors were opened for us and we walked into a darkened room full of people, maybe 300 or so. We were ten minutes late and most seats had already been taken but there was someone waiting there for late comers who knew where there were two empty seats and we were led down one of the aisles towards the stage where the band was playing. As I struggled to get my eyes accustomed to the lighting or rather lack of it I thought how this was what it had been like to visit the cinema as a child. With my feet now confident of where they were treading I looked up and saw two giant screens, one either side of the stage, which were displaying the words of the song being sung. However, as I looked directly at the screen in front of me it changed to display two words, those being "Welcome Home". They were on the screen for less than a second but long enough for me to register what I had seen before they were replaced by the next verse of the song being sung. I was both confused and intrigued because it made no sense to display those words at that time as they were not part of the song but I had no time to dwell on that. We were escorted past thirty rows of seats, right to the front, turning then to walk past the stage and up to the next aisle where there were two empty seats waiting for us at the end of the second row from the front. Wow, this place was packed and they had two empty seats in the second row?
The service was nothing like what I had ever experienced in a church before. The music was lively not lethargic and the message was not a sermon. It was filled with good humour and put over in a way that left me nodding my head in agreement rather than it nodding off to sleep. Right at the end they have what is known as a 'salvation call'; an opportunity to repent of past (bad) behaviours and to focus on how Jesus (in the Bible) tells us to behave. All you have to do is to raise your hand and speak out a prayer but I have no intention of doing that, well not today. I have another two weekends before I go home so maybe I should leave that to the last week? Now let there be no misunderstanding, I've thoroughly enjoyed today but it just doesn't seen right for me to come to a church service after being away for forty years and say, "Hi, I'm back!" or something like that. This needs careful consideration and not an emotional response and to ensure that would be the case I put my right hand into my trouser pocket. That arm would not be raised today, no, perhaps next week but definitely not today. I had forgotten I had two arms. As I listened to the Pastor exhorting us to raise our hand if we were responding to this call I suddenly became aware that my left arm was not touching my body. I looked down, it was 20cm from my side. I moved it back and watched it slowly drift back to where it had been. I contemplated putting that hand into my other pocket but then thought that would be stupid. If the hand wanted to be raised then let it be so and I lifted my arm.
When my friend realised what I had done she was thrilled. I was duly registered as a member of this church (despite living the other side of the world) and we went off to have lunch. I contemplated on what had just happened to me. I had gone to church for the first time in forty years, thoroughly enjoyed it and ended up joining it, much against my expectation and original intent. Then there was the screen message I had seen when we walked in. I reasoned they must have spotted me, a newcomer, as I walked in and put it up for my benefit. There could be no other logical explanation I guess?
Postscript:
This story is one of the most important ones in my blog. The words "Welcome Home" I saw on the screen were in the same font and size as those used for the song lyrics, just two words displayed in the centre of the screen for less than a second. There is no doubt about it and as I carried on walking towards our seats I was wondering how (and why) they did that. In the years to come the church would start to use similar phraseology, indeed my blog title is one of theirs which I have appropriated because of its relevance to what happened to me, but at that time it wasn't one they were using. However when you read my later stories you will see there have been other occasions where I "saw" something that others may or will not have done. It doesn't happen very often but here are two examples, One Second and The Writing on the Wall. This has led me to consider whether something similar may have happened others, particularly what you read in the Bible concerning King Hezekiah and the shadow that moved backwards on the wall (Isaiah 38:4-8). I'm sure he actually saw that happen but it doesn't say anyone else did!