Saturday Night Singing

Two of my adult students from the Nazarene church invited me to the Saturday singing at their church. They said it was a special gathering because people were coming from other churches in Serbia as well as Hungary. They are such wonderful people so I accepted their invitation. I must admit, I was skeptical at first. Singing really isn't my thing, especially a 2.5 hour long singing at a church.

Liljana reminded me earlier in the day that I should cover my hair for the service. The Nazarene women wear scarves or lace on their heads similar to what a Mennonite would wear. The first few inches of their hair is exposed, while the remainder is covered. I took her advice and wore a small scarf to cover my ponytail. When I got to Liljana's house wearing my skirt and scarf, she started to giggle and said I looked like a Nazarene girl and then gave me a hug for being "cute." My student/friend met me at their house and we walked to the church together.

Their singing blew me away. It was nothing like what I had expected. The songs that are sung in the Methodist church here sound heavy and traditional. Singing loud seams to be more important than singing in key. The songs in the Nazarene church were completely different. They were light, airy, and sounded very uplifting. I honestly felt like I was at a concert, but instead of sitting in the audience, I was sitting with the choir singers.

The men sat one one side of the church and the women on the other. The two sides faced each other. Each side was divided into two sections. The people sat according to whether they were a bass, tenor, alto, or soprano. There was no piano or any other accompanying instruments. Their voices were the music and sounded more beautiful than a piano would have. The songs were not sung just for the sake of singing. They were sung to perfection with everyone using their well trained voices to reach each note in unison. I was amazed at how they were able to sing sixteenth note runs with ease. Depending on the notes, the different sections would sing at different times creating the most beautiful music. The part that amazed me the most was that these were just the congregation members that have carefully honed their voices over the years. This wasn't a professionally trained accapella group, just people that loved to sing.

Hopefully I will have the chance to go again before I leave! This is probably my favorite memory of my time here in Serbia, except for my surprise party of course.