On the Sunday morning we headed to Colombo Central Corps, which is right next door to THQ, and joined in with their morning worship. The service was held jointly in Sinhalese and English, with a translator on the platform as well as the speaker. The SA Songbooks were in three languages (the third being Tamil), and it was an amazing thing to sing a song together in multiple languages but with the same beaming to our one and only God. The Captain warmly greeted us from the platform, along with a family visiting from Holland. It must be difficult being the officers at the corps THQ staff attend though!
The team at Colombo Central Corps
During the service we had a 15 minute worship session led by singers, piano, drums and bass which was very spiritual, and the sermon was delivered on ways to resolve conflict within the Church, such as by setting up house groups. After the meeting we had a cuppa, and we were invited to join in with the Songsters in the evening, and I was invited to join in with the band!
After lunch we got some tuk tuks to the beach front in Colombo, a wide grassy area filled with many drinks stands, a small pier and lots of people flying kites! Doreen bought some for her family, and we 'tested one out' as Michelle had never flown a kite before!
The view from the pier
"Lets go fly a kite, up to the highest height..."
Back at the Training College we prepared the item we had been asked to lead at the evening service at Colombo Central – the kid's song, 'Our God is a Great Big God'. Upon arriving at the corps, we were handed songster music and I was given a trombone!
Colombo Central Band with Jason, myself and Johnson playing
The service was for 'Social Services Sunday', celebrating the Salvation Army's Social Work in the Sri Lankan territory. It was great to see people at the corps that evening such as Dinuka and Lakmal, as well as a whole host of people, many not Christians, who were those in the various homes and projects that the Salvation Army ran. (Present at the service were 25 non-Christians from the Hikkaduwa area, who had been personally invited by the Community Capacity Development team to attend, and much prayer had been said for them, and will continue to be said). Each group had an item prepared, ranging from drama to singing to a march from the band ('Down the Street'). There was also Congregational worship, and the Territorial Commander gave a short sermon. Colombo Central Songsters, aided by myself, Doreen and Helen, sang 'Christ in Me' – a beautiful song. The songster leader, Johnson (also the bassist in the band) was a very friendly bloke who turned out to have lived in England as a child!
Colombo Central Songsters, plus guests
Our kid's song went very well, though it was nerve wrecking singing in front of 300 people, and we got some of the kids to come up and join in with us for the actions.
After the service the band master said to me, “Two trombones tonight, you were very powerful!” - fantastic! We also spoke with Commissioners William and Debra Mockabee, the Chief of Staff and his wife. They were wearing gold stars as one of their sons had been killed in action in the Hurricane Katrina disaster when serving as an officer in the Salvation Army. They were obviously very proud of his service. To finish the day, we went back to the Mews café we had gone to on our first night in Sri Lanka, before I finished the day handsomely losing at Uni!
The team with the Territorial Commander and his wife, and the Chief of Staff and his wife (the Territorial Secretary for Women's Ministries)
The Social Services Sunday really highlighted the many lives that the Salvation Army has reached out and touched (with much help and support coming from the International Development department of the UK territory (SAID (UK)), and in turn from people's donations), and I am extremely proud to be a member of the SA. A video montage was shown with music during the service, photos being shown of the various projects being run in Sri Lanka, and it was in complete contrast to a SAID video I had seen previously at Territorial Music School showing the needs of so many in the world which brought tears to my eyes. The montage instead brought tears of joy, showing the Army doing a fantastic work for God and meeting these needs – may we never lose sight of that! I get the sense I will end up working for the Army one day, though in what capacity I cannot tell – my calling from God is certainly to be a teacher for the next few years. I fear a mundane life, but I do not think that that is what God has planned for me!
With a day of international worship, I will end with Jerimiah 3 v17a:
"At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD."
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