Sunday Worship

Today it’s City Hills, a Pentecostal church and the third in the Church Series. My friend Heather and I are going to a different church every week.  The church constitutes a central place in Monrovia society, both for prayer and for politics. Preachers soap box for their chosen parties. Everyone wears their finest. The churches range in size, location and denomination. We walk up Snapper Hill and take a left at the sign. We climb a muddy path up to a simple wood building. Inside, pews are packed in narrow rows. Members of the men’s group greet us and pin a piece of candy on us. We hand over 10 LD. From the rafters of the church hang green and white balloons. The soloist has a sweet voice but the broken microphone distorts it. We enter at a moment of thanksgiving. “Thank you, oh God, for Syria. Thank you for putting it back together,” the preacher says, recognition that there are calamities outside Liberia. The congregation is encouraged to tithe “10 percent of everything you get from the Lord.” People slip money into a small black envelope and ceremoniously drop it in a clear box at the front of the church.