Yesterday I had the remarkable experience of being a part of a church service in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Though there were a few concessions to the climate (no one wore jackets, for example), it was remarkable just how recognizable the service was as part of the Church of God culture. Despite the presence of few Americans (namely Mr. Sexton and his wife, a fellow named Austin (one of my fellow instructors, a recent high school gradute who had originally signed on to Legacy to work in the farm and help with computer maitenance), and a young man named Daniel (in his 20’s, I suppose) whom I’m sure I’ve met before (at least online), the services were recognizable within the family of Church of God services.

To wit, there was an opening set of hymns led by a local songleader, with an opening prayer (in Thai). All of the men had short hair, most of them with what is called “Legacy Boy” haircuts (ironically enough, they joked about my haircut being the same themselves). All of the women were in skirts and blouses, the men in dress shirts and good pants, with even a couple of us in ties. There was no sermonette, nor announcements, but there was special music (one of the fellows I had met in the morning, a second year student who I talked to a fair amount during the day), and he sang a lovely song in Thai and accompanied himself on the accoustic guitar.

Then Mr. Sexton gave the sermon, about Pentecost, specifically, what had been lacking in the Sinai covenant, that is the heart and will to obey God within the Israelites with whom the covenant had been conducted. It was a fairly interactive message, as far as it goes, and it was determined that neither the Thai nor the Burmese Bibles call the Holy Spirit “him” (as do English Bibles), but that they call it ‘Sir’ or some other honorific. This was pleasing. The message went over well, for the most part, in somewhat simplified language, despite some interruptions.

One factor that complicated matters during services was the local climate. Like Central Florida, Chiang Mai operates on the summer monsoon season (the wet season runs from May to October, roughly) and there is typically a thunderstorm every afternoon (there were two, one during and one shortly after services). The upshot was that some people had to rush to close the screens, the Sexton’s granddaughters were a bit sad that they could not jump around in the puddles and play in the rain (they appear to be very adventuresome little girls—the older one of them named Eowyn, after the Lord of The Rings, a reference I immediately caught that surprised Mrs. Sexton a bit), one of whom collected sticks before services and a long vine after services. One person arrived to services from Chiang Mai proper soaked from the weather, as he had forgotten his umbrella.

After services the Sextons left fairly quickly (which had to cut short a conversation about their experiences with Church of God splits—sadly the Church of God is itself a house divided, something I never cease to lament, as it would be nice to belong to a house united, for a change, given the fact that in my entire life I have largely known only divided houses). One interesting bit of conversation with Mr. Sexton was that despite the servant leadership shown by the Thai monarchy that the Gentile model of lording it over others, corruption, and patron-client relationships seemed to be the modus operendi in Thailand. I had suspected as much, but it will be interesting to study the hierarchy problem in greater detail.

I had one bit of caution to relay to the Sextons from my conversations that morning when I dropped in for my first inspection of the Legacy Institute grounds. One of the locals, who had graduated this year and was working at the farm, commented that he wished the Legacy grounds was bigger with more separation between the boys’ and girls’ dorms, to help prevent people trying to sneak around. I took this seriously and relayed it to the Sextons, who commented that one student had previously been expelled for that infraction but hinted at a currently existing ‘situation’ that needs to be dealt with. I suppose I will find out more about that later. As an aside, I might get to see the farm today in order to see an interview with some new ‘trainees’, at which point we might be able to bring the bike back to the apartment.

After a lovely dinner, which included some kind of potato and chicken-stock soup (tasty), a spicy beef and rice dish (also very savory), and some very odd tasting but not entirely unpleasant squash, I went up to my room to sleep. I don’t know if it’s the jet lag or the early sunsets or the wilting heat or some combination of the above, but I don’t think I will be a night owl here (not that there is any reason to be or purpose to be in this village). One benefit of that is that it means I should be able to wake up early without too much trouble, something that is in general a personal difficulty for me.