Divine worship vs. disturbing the peace: What do you think?

I'm having a noise issue in my neighborhood, and while it's driving me crazy, I don't know what I can do about it. 

I live in a neighborhood where several churches sit amidst groups of houses clustered together in varying density. The Church of God of Prophecy is located within a football field of my house and from 7:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. between 3 to 5 nights a week microphone enhanced seismic sound waves of song and sermon blast from its doors straight into my living room. The booming rhythm is so loud that it sounds like the entire congregation is meeting at my house.

Church of God of Prophecy

During the past few weeks, I've spoken to a few church members and some local officials about this issue. I've asked respectfully if the volume on the sound system can be turned down. I've suggested that loud music is not necessary for worship, that music and sermons don't have to be loud to honor God, that perhaps God sometimes speaks in whispers. I've argued that loud music is loud music, whether it be Christian or secular; explained that I would honor their request if my music or worship disturbed their peace of mind. And I've referenced the Christian principles of "love one another" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"; that for one to worship with grace one must not just speak the Gospel of Peace, but live it.  The overwhelming response?  I've been accused of being godless, of worshiping the devil, of being a sacrilegious tourist, and finally, I've been advised to deal with it; told that I have no rights when those rights are in conflict with the rights of the church.

I've been informed by locals that the Pentecostal church believes very loud music and a shouted message is powerful and that neighbours will hear the service and come in to repent of their sins. I think the intensity of the volume overwhelms the mind and obscures the message; you can't even decipher the words coming through this wall of sound.  I don't see that worship at this level of noise does anything to glorify God or encourage faith.

Paul, in speaking to the Corinthians. laid down some guidelines to bring order to worship services. In these verses, he states that "those who are spiritual should be able to follow these guidelines, and he gives two summary statements.  One emphasizes prophecy over tongues because it edifies others, and the other emphasizes order in the worship service (vss. 39-40)."  In Corinthians I, verse 15, Paul addresses the subject of music directly: "I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." I believe Paul would turn down the volume if asked. Paul was a great believer in thinking Christianity.

From my point of view, well reasoned faith. 

And so it goes, on President's Day 2011.

I'm just saying...

1.  My co-worker Diane has two children, both girls. Their names:  Siana and Siane. They look alike, talk alike, are close in age and both wear blue school uniforms with matching hair ribbons.   My neighbor has two daughters: Taniqua and Tanisha, same thing except their uniforms are brown.  And the way I'm supposed to figure out how to tell them apart and call them by their right name?


2.  I got to the bus stop a little later than usual last Friday morning.  Several buses passed me by signaling they were full. When one finally stopped there was only room in the front seat which is a scary ride no matter who is driving, but I was tired of waiting so I decided to hop on and close my eyes for a fearless ride.  And hop on is exactly what I tried to do - unfortunately falling to the ground before making contact with the seat. No one offered to help, just looked at the clumsy blonde Peace Corps and waited for me to pull it together and try again. 

 3.  I walked along the shores of the Atlantic from my house to the Marriott last week.  The walk was about 4 miles and it was both beautiful and disturbing. 
 

Me on this glorious day halfway from my house to the Marriott

  

Same walk, about a mile later, covered in litter, a major threat to the ecosystem.

The end of the walk, taken from the restaurant at the Marriott.

4.  Last week, we were told a meeting had been scheduled with the Permanent Secretary (PS) of our Ministry for Tuesday morning at 10.  I was looking forward to the opportunity to discuss my service goals and had prepared several project outlines to share before walking across the street to Government headquarters with the other staff members from my office. Once we arrived, we waited in the hallway for the assistant to call us into the meeting. 30 minutes later, still waiting, the assistant appeared and told us we should return to our offices and wait there for the PS.  It's Monday morning, 4 work days later, and I'm still waiting.


5.  The Director of Youth (my counterpart) is also a wedding planner and an embalmer.


6.  On one of my beach walks, I came across Dr. Brown and his amazing Aquaculture Fish Farm.  It is a research farm which he has been operating (self-funded) for some 16 years.  Dr. Brown told me he cultivates the Jamaican Red Snapper, a salt water version of the fresh water Tilapia.  He has four ponds on his property, all fed with water from the sea.  He also has an invention he calls a Sexual Reassignment machine and a process he said he developed to do just that, thereby reducing the number of female fish and increasing his profits. (Apparently each female can produce 1500 babies - far more than he needs to feed, grow and sell.)  The contraption is located near the "maternity ward" and looks much like a trio of laundry tubs with tubes extending in several directions. By taking the newly spawned females, putting them in this machine, and feeding them a special food laced with testosterone, he said he can influence their gender and control the number of females he cultivates.  He said he only needs 5 females to cultivate the entire farm.   "Besides," he explained, "females eat too much and are a distraction to the males."  Where have I heard that before?

Dr. Brown's Aquaculture Center.

 

Dr. Brown explaining his fish farm.

The maternity ward.

7.  Everyday on the way home, the bus passes the St. Kitts dump, a site that has been used to deposit trash and other waste for the past 15 years.  About 5 weeks ago a huge pile of tires caught fire and sent dense billows of black smoke into the air. The toxic fumes continue to poison the atmosphere as the fire burns from below the earth.  There are no plans to contain it.

8.  Kittitian women have a habit of patting the tops of their heads.  I've asked several people about this gesture - wondering if it was culture specific or had a lingual context.  One person told me it was a way of scratching the head where too tight plaits contributed to an itchy scalp. That made sense until I saw a woman without plaits doing the same thing - patting rhythmically on a spot closer to her forehead.  "It means everything is good," she told me.  That worked too, but it seemed to be a rather painful way of showing happiness.  Finally, after observing schoolchildren doing the same thing, usually after being reprimanded by an adult, I decided it must be nervousness, not unlike nail biting or foot tapping.

9.  Calvin Klein don't bother to send your perfumes to St. Kitts!  I've been curious why so many Kittitian school girls have white necks.  Since I'm not living in a culture that practices body markings to denote tribal or familial affiliations, I decided it was time to ask the question.  A young high school student, similarly marked, got off at the same bus stop that I did and we walked together for awhile. When I asked her about the markings she explained that it was baby powder, and that all the girls used it because it "makes you smell sweet and keeps you fresh all day."  Are you listening Johnson and Johnson? 

10.  I've been going to the gym for 4 weeks now, working out with weights, trying to tone my neglected muscles. The trainer on the floor, a lovely and very muscular woman named Shirley, told me the first day she met me that I was the weakest person she had ever worked with.  She didn't mean it to be disrespectful, just stating the facts.  She told me she didn't think I would ever be able to build any muscle, but she didn't give up on me and I didn't give up on me.  Today she told me I was getting stronger.  Yea, me!

And so it goes on Valentine's Day 2011.