After a three-year pandemic delay, a unity service brings together Christians who worship in English, Korean and Spanish.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle
CHICAGO — To a visitor entering the Northwest Church of Christ this past Sunday, the assembly might have sounded like the Day of Pentecost.
Distinct voices praised God in English, Korean and Spanish — all at the same time.
The diverse crowd of Christians who filled the church’s wooden pews on Chicago’s North Side sang hymns such as “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Come, We That Love the Lord” and “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”
“We believe the same thing despite the language differences,” said Miriam Williamson, an immigrant from El Salvador. “Maybe the way they teach us is different in Spanish than in English, but it’s the same Jesus.”
On a typical Lord’s Day, three different language groups meet at three different times in the century-old auditorium a half-mile off busy Interstate 94.
The unity service — normally organized at least once a year but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic — brought the 100 or so believers together for the first time in three years.
In a working-class neighborhood lined with bungalows, joy and tears greeted the occasion.
This story appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.
Featured photo by Audrey Jackson
The Ross News 