Congo

From our two times in Eastern Congo, one of the most beautiful sites I have observed here is the church singing its pray. Both times we have observed it here in Beni so I couldn’t say how much of Congo prays like this, but I would vote for the Congolese to lead our prayer times in heaven.

The prayer begins with someone who leads. He or she will sing an African melody that is worshipful, loving, melancholy and thankful all at the same time. When this soloist has sung a few lines, the church will respond by singing back the words sung, or singing a response. As the church responds what was a lone cry out to God becomes a harmonic rejoiner that embraces everyone. This will go on for several minutes and I cannot keep my eyes closed. For as they pray, the Congolese have there eyes closed and on their faces you see profound love, heartbreaking anguish, and impassioned pleas. As the song goes on several fall to their knees. No one is watching (except us westerners) so this act is not one of show. It is a humble plea.

After the responsitory singing has gone on for a while, the church continues to sing the main theme of the prayer while several offer their own prayers in their own words. They do this all at once and so it is a loud chorus of prayers. The longer we pray, the louder it becomes. This continues for 3-6 minutes and then one person who has been asked, will finish with a long prayer of his/her own.

The building where we had the Beni Seminar is a large church (350?) with concrete floor, hard plaster walls, hardwood benches (do they have soft wood here?), and a galvanized metal roof that rises 18 ft. Needless the say the sounds are amplified.

One day as we were praying in the Congolese way, it began to rain. As we prayed it rained harder. You can imagine the sound on a huge metal roof. When we came to the part where one person had been asked to finish the prayer, it was an elderly (70?) man who prayed. While the group was humming and singing he began. As the rain became louder, he became louder. Then the rain would become louder yet, and he too prayed louder. Finally, when he was shouting at the top of his voice, the sound of the rain completely drowned out his prayer. It was a spine tingling moment in which it felt to me like God was saying, “I hear you people of Congo, and I am sending my rains for your healing”.

We will never forget that moment.