No matter what language we speak the language of dance speaks the message of Jesus directly to our hearts
Não importa que idioma falamos a linguagem da dança fala a mensagem de Jesus diretamente aos nossos corações
Category: Brazilian Church
A Glimpse into a Worship Translators Life
If you read our Theme statement at praise2worship you would see that I work as one member of a worship team. What most of you may not know is that our church is bi-lingual (Portuguese/English) and that we transition from one language to the other during the worship time. Often many of our classic hymns or even the latest worship from Jesus culture has a Portuguese translation and is widely heard in Brazil.
What has been the challenge are the times when I (the American part of the team) really want to share a recent song or a classic hymn for which no translation exists. The challenge of dovetailing the essence of a song together with the melody and rhythm can keep me up at night rolling various verbs around in my brain.
My latest project this week was the classic hymn, “Our Great Savior” which is sometimes called “Jesus What a friend for Sinners” I worked through and recorded the first and last verses as well as the refrain this morning after a few days of work and some quick grammatical editing by my pastor. Hope someone is blessed and if there is another worship translator out there I would love to hear back from you!
Here is Love – English /Portuguese version
In our church, bilingual worship is the norm. Our congregation is primarily from Brazil with a few from the Cape Verde Islands sprinkled in. We sing alternately in Portuguese and English in most of the services. Here is just a simple example of how things went last night during the offering. Love to hear from anyone who would like to share on their own experiences. Blessings
The Other Side of the Window
applying for a real jobor entering into college so she cleaned houses and prayed for God to help her find a way to reach a legal status. Maria struggled with all the same issues that other teens struggle with here in America but always behind the smiles lived the fear of what might happen if she were to be found out. For a time Maria began to come only rarely to church then it seemed something slowly began to change. Step by step she began to commit her life back to the Lord and with halting steps to find a new path.
But one afternoon shortly after, as she drove home from house cleaning Maria was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. One of her turn signals was not working and when she looked into her mirror she saw a police car. All the things she had feared came crashing down into her life that day. Her father called our pastor and asked him to pray because his little girl was now locked away behind the doors of the County prison.
One day not long after I sat in the visiting room of the prison. I still could not
believe that Maria was really there. At the time for the visits to begin a guard called everyone to line up and pass through a metal detector and then into a long narrow room with tiny cubicles, each facing a window. On the other side of the windows were the prisoners waiting next to a telephone receiver. As I sat in my assigned place I saw Maria sitting on the other side. “How are youMaria?” I asked in Portuguese. “I am good Pastor how are you?”
“Not good at all Maria.” I answered and tears began to roll down my cheeks. This isn’t the right place for you!” “Don’t cry Pastor!” She said. Then Maria began to encourage me that God was taking good care of her there. had few options but inside that prison she began to pray also. Her first prayer was just a simple request. She prayed, “Lord Jesus it is so cold here and the clothing is so thin, please help me to stay warm!” Then she explained how she felt the warmth of God’s presence around there in her cell and fell fast asleep that night and each night afterward.
We joined together as a church to pray for Maria. She was alone, afraid and vulnerable. She had no money and no lawyer. So we had a special offering and a fund-raising dinner to raise the $1500 needed for legal counsel. So we prayed, we cooked, we sold meals and soon we were able to present her family and friends with the money needed to get an immigration lawyer. On the day of Maria’s hearing about ten of us drove the 2 1/2 hour trip to the hearing. Yet in spite of our hopes and prayers the answer was 42 days to gather her things together to go back to Brazil.
For those who have not never had a friend or family member pass through this the matter may seem simple.
Maria came without the documents – she was an “illegal” and she got caught. Logically she should go home (at her own expense). But real life is never as simple as it seems. As a young girl could she have stayed behind alone in Brazil? Had she been asked her opinion about leaving her friends and family behind to go to a far away country? Did she have any means by which to get the paperwork she needed at any point along the way? Add to the mix of official problems, all the normal average growing up teenage problems such as boyfriends, a desire for independence, and hoping and dreaming for things beyond your grasp. Maria’s story is just the first I will share. All the incidents are exactly as they happened with only names being changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
I will end this first installment with the thought that Jesus left us, because one day it may our own face on the other side of a window!
Do to others as you would like them to do to you Luke 6:31
Standing with the newcomers in Your World
Proclaim Liberty thro’ all the Land to all the Inhabitants thereof.-Levit. XXV. 10
Every year it seems that the debate over immigration reform has gotten harsher and more shrill. Every year some politician on the right or the lft has chosen to capitalize on the emotions running rampant in order to further their own career. For years I have sat quietly on the sidelines hoping and praying that things would just get better. I have worried that anything I say would only add fuel to the fire of raging emotions. But this last year the volume has grown to the level that for once I have decided that I must do the best I can to get involved. Because of our deep invovlement with the communities of various immigrants here in our city my wife and I have had a front row seat to the realities and struggles of many of our friends.
I hope answer to anger with friendship and confusion with facts gleaned from our own personal experience. I love America and my hope and earnest prayer for my country is that she continue to be a beacon of hope. In a discussion with a family member some years back I remembered that my own Grandfather had sailed into New York harbor past the Statue of Liberty to be registered at Elliss Island. “Do you know what is written on the statue?” I asked. No they did not remember. This is part of the very foundation of what America means.
. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus
Here we are in 2014 with mass shootings happening weekly, family foundations being challenged everywhere, the continuing spead of gambling casinos and a drumbeat of demands for the legalization of more drugs. As one radio announcer quipped last year over the debate here in Pennsylvania over deregulating the liquor industry here, “I don’t think our biggest problem is a shortage of beer and alchohol!”
In the same way people have somehow come to believe that somehow their lives will be immeasurably improved if we could just deport 10 or 11 million illegal immigrants back to their home lands. We who call ourselves Christians must never give in to that mindset. Just becasue I find a bad apple in the basket doesn’t make me want to throw the whole bushel to the hogs. There are many good apples and in the posts to come I will be sharing true stories, pictures and an up close and personal look at the lives of our newest neighbors. 
All even tempered debate is as welcome as are new ideas and challenges to action! More to come so stay tuned…
Standing with the newcomers in Your World
Proclaim Liberty thro’ all the Land to all the Inhabitants thereof.-Levit. XXV. 10
Every year it seems that the debate over immigration reform has gotten harsher and more shrill. Every year some politician on the right or the lft has chosen to capitalize on the emotions running rampant in order to further their own career. For years I have sat quietly on the sidelines hoping and praying that things would just get better. I have worried that anything I say would only add fuel to the fire of raging emotions. But this last year the volume has grown to the level that for once I have decided that I must do the best I can to get involved. Because of our deep invovlement with the communities of various immigrants here in our city my wife and I have had a front row seat to the realities and struggles of many of our friends.
I hope answer to anger with friendship and confusion with facts gleaned from our own personal experience. I love America and my hope and earnest prayer for my country is that she continue to be a beacon of hope. In a discussion with a family member some years back I remembered that my own Grandfather had sailed into New York harbor past the Statue of Liberty to be registered at Elliss Island. “Do you know what is written on the statue?” I asked. No they did not remember. This is part of the very foundation of what America means.
. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus
Here we are in 2014 with mass shootings happening weekly, family foundations being challenged everywhere, the continuing spead of gambling casinos and a drumbeat of demands for the legalization of more drugs. As one radio announcer quipped last year over the debate here in Pennsylvania over deregulating the liquor industry here, “I don’t think our biggest problem is a shortage of beer and alchohol!”
In the same way people have somehow come to believe that somehow their lives will be immeasurably improved if we could just deport 10 or 11 million illegal immigrants back to their home lands. We who call ourselves Christians must never give in to that mindset. Just becasue I find a bad apple in the basket doesn’t make me want to throw the whole bushel to the hogs. There are many good apples and in the posts to come I will be sharing true stories, pictures and an up close and personal look at the lives of our newest neighbors.
All even tempered debate is as welcome as are new ideas and challenges to action! More to come so stay tuned…
Celebrating Easter Together
Celebrating Easter across languages, cultures and races. Nothing is more precious than brothers from everywhere worshiping Jesus together!
