A tale of two churches

George and I went to mass on Sunday in Manila. George suggested that we go to a place that some people from the hotel were preaching at, so we got in a taxi and headed over. After asking for directions over and over, we finally were directed down an alley, where there was a prominent looking church. We walked in the gate and asked one of the few guys standing around what time mass was at, since we thought we were late. The one who responded happened to be the pastor of the church, Brother Eddy. We were looking around for the guys George met but couldn't find them. In the meantime, we were invited to the back to meet the English preacher, Edwin. We went to the back of the church and found a room with 3 men dressed in fine suits. We told them where we were from and why we were there. They were very refined and polite, and suggested we find their churches in the states. We told them we were going to try to find the church we were looking for but we would come back for mass at 10:45. They had already assigned a young couple to show us around and everything. The female ushers wore long white dresses with huge sleeves and took collection by sidestepping across the pews (a la soup nazi), and the choir was in gowns behind the altar.

So we headed down to the Primitive Baptist church to see if the 2 guys from the hotel were there. It was a garage door, with words painted out front, and a lot of loud singing! The tour guides from the other church started knocking on this door, which made us feel a little like we were intruding, but all of a sudden a loud and boisterous Father Jeff came out with a thick Kentucky accent, so excited to see us! He had people get us chairs so we could sit in the front row while we sang loudly and heard sermons that were based on anecdotes from Jeff's life. He interrupted the whole service to let us leave because we said we had promised to go to the other mass.
I cannot begin to explain the contrast between the two churches. One was majestic and impressive, but also sterile and a bit too formal. The other was quite modest but relevant and warm. Both churches sat men on the left and women on the right, and both took collection, but didn't give out communion.

I would not say which one is better, but I would say that it was a very interesting experience to see how a very Christian country celebrates is such a variety of ways!

-Tarrah Beebe