The resurection of Jesus

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As I was about to leave the house to go to the celebration held by the JWs, my kids got into a bit of a tiff and the younger one, João, got hurt and started to cry, it is normally the thing when I am about to go out. So I made him come with me.

José had arrived and it was raining heavily, we had to run to the car. (I left my umbrella in the hospital the day My eldest came home) We arrived in no time, my son was a little pouty. My eldest, Amando, sent him a text apologising which he eventually accepted.

The celebration was held in a nursing college, apparently that was the only place that they could rent this year, but they were very pleased. Upon our entering the building João remarked that they all looked like FBI agents in their suits. I must admit, the suits I do find a little too much, especially on five year olds. I was glad I had brought João along with me, I thought that monitoring his reactions could be interesting.

As soon as we got to the main hall, I needed to go to the bathroom. I immediately saw a man who used to come round a few years back, Rui, a very nice man who I would have interesting conversations with. He gave me directions to the bathroom. The building was very nice, but to me it looked unfinished...

Back in the hall we sat at the back, João opted for that seat and I didn't want to pressure him. José said that we should really move further forward for the ceremony of the bread and wine. We did eventually. Suddenly João became aware that his hair was long for some reason and started to tell me that he should have brushed it before we came out.

I did a rough head count of approximately 168 people in the auditorium. They started with a hymn, which my son found a little embarrassing for some reason, even though we didn't even have to sing. Then came a slightly lengthy prayer and then the speech. Through the whole process the various verses were quoted. (See below)
Then came the ceremony of the unleavened bread. The bread which Christ regarded as his body when he broke it for the disciples. Obviously he was speaking symbolically, that they had to do that every year in memory of him.

In this ceremony the bread was passed round but no body ate it. They just pass it from hand to hand. The first time I went to one of these meetings I was told not to eat the bread or drink the wine, only the chosen ones do that. I wondered how then the chosen ones got to do that if they weren't supposed to do it. I was told that the spirit tells you. I thought this contradictory because if I would have drank then they probably wouldn't have believed me. This time however I was told that only those who want to govern with Christ should drink the wine and eat the bread.

Then the wine was passed round, and another lengthy prayer. All the way through I was trying to pay attention to what was said, write some things down, for this blog and playing squiggles with my son. Squiggles is a game my sister and I used to play...

Towards the end of the ceremony the speaker remarked that we were celebrating Jesus' death, to which my son remarked sarcastically 'that's nice'. I said to him that is was really a celebration of the Resurrection.

On the last hymn, a young man behind us gave me his song book My son and I shared it and to my amazement every now and then he would actually sing.LOL.

When it was all over I thanked the young man and we had a little chat, he was very pleasant. I think my son also enjoyed the conversation. He even remembered his name. Miguel.

As we were waiting for José, Rui came and spoke with me. He still wants to come to my place and teach me about the book of revelation, which was how we left it nearly 2 years ago. I am curious as to see if this time it will actually happen, he is the 3rd person who has said this.

All in all it was a pleasant evening and it was nice to see Rui again. I don't think even João found it that intolerable.




The quoted chapters were;
Luke 22:18 and 20; Romans 6:23; John 3:16; James 2:24-26; Luke 2:25
Rev 14:1(About the 144,000) Rev 5:10; Romans 8: 16,17; Rev 14:4; John 10:16; Isiah 65:21-23; Then I think it was 1st Corinth 11:23,24; and then 25. This break up and shuffle of verses and chapters I find a little weird. Most churches tend to do this to get their point across. As various subjects would arise then the relevant verses would be quoted.