A Visit to Church in Seoul
Andrew had a lot of fun seeing the sights of Seoul with his friend, YoungSu. She toured him around Insadong and Hongdae and had him try lots of interesting street food.
She also invited us to church. Andrew and I accepted and headed out on the 1 hour subway trip. The church campus was huge! And the worship center was WAY at the top of a large hill. I had to rest half way up, but the elderly Koreans didn’t even slow down.
On the way, we were greeted by these men who all bowed deeply. (I wanted to get a picture of them bowing and waited for them to do so for the next group. But, once they saw my camera they stood still and posed.) They, and everyone we saw, were very friendly.
The worship service was fairly similar to the one we’re used to at home, except it was a little more elaborate, and much longer. Two hours! Every detail was very well-tended. Like the female ushers who wore traditional habuk. (I didn’t think it was appropriate to take photos in the sanctuary, so no photos of that.)
On the way down that large hill, I had enough breath to take some photos. I was intrigued by the entrance to the children’s building, with shoes strewn in all directions. (Protocol is to remove shoes whenever there’s a raised threshold.)
Of course, the Koreans got a big kick out of me photographing something so ordinary. (It wasn’t the first time we entertained the locals.)
Ellen Lindner
