Learning Respect

Calle Gloria
Granada, Spain

The majority of people in Spain are Catholic.[1]. As we have walked around the city we have only seen Catholic churches. I kept meaning to ask at the school if there was a protestant church we could attend, but forgot. So this morning I decided we would worship with the Catholics. The boys have never attended a Catholic Mass before.
I have a vivid memory of being in Switzerland with my mom and brother, Ben many years ago. We attended a Catholic Mass there. Not knowing any better, I went up to take communion. I remember the Priest giving me a funny look and I wondered why. So I forewarned the boys not to take communion.
We entered the cathedral about 10 minutes before the service was to start. At first I thought I had misread the time. There were only five other people in the whole sanctuary. I was thinking we would leave and go look for another service and then the organist started playing. I was happy to be in the house of the Lord and sat quietly to open my heart to Him.
There was no singing and the entire service was in Spanish (as we expected). At the height of the service there were less than 20 attendees, including us. During the entire mass there were probably double that number of people who walked in to view the cathedral and then walked out, not pausing long enough to take in any of the service. These people talked to each other as they walked around and numerous times the door was slammed behind them. Towards the end of the service a large family entered and was extremely noisy. So noisy that the Priest actually stopped the service and reprimanded them.
Needless to say, my heart was breaking. I sat and tried to absorb what was happening. Did they not see that people were there to worship? Did they care that there was a worship service going on? Do they hold such little regard for God’s house, worship or God as to act this way?
When we left the service the boys could not contain their surprise. The discussion was not about the different ways Catholics worship, as I expected. The whole discussion was about the behavior we had witnessed. They understood that this was not because it was a Catholic Church and that all Catholic Services are not this way. They immediately recognized it was a lack of training. They felt that all the people who were disruptive had not been trained to respect or honor the church, God or those who worshipped Him. There was much concern about the consequences these people would face as a result of their lack of honoring a worship service.
God’s word is clear….
“…For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:5 & 6
“Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.” Deuteronomy 8:19
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy.” Exodus 20:8
“The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.” Proverbs 15:33
Again God is reminding me of the importance of honor. Honoring the house of God, honoring a worship service, honoring a denomination that has evangelized a large part of the world to Christianity…honoring my God by honoring what He holds dear.
[1] Google reports 77% to 81% in Spain say they’re Catholic, although most admit that they do not attend church regularly.