Christianity in Chicoutimi (or The Strangest Grape Juice I've Ever Tasted)

Here in Quebec, on several occcasions I've heard people say, "Because the Catholic Church was so restrictive in the old days, people weren't allowed to _______________." For example, when we were learning Quebecois dances, we were told that a certain dance that we learned was banned by the Church because it involved changing partners. The church was also pretty strict about how women dressed. (I think their dresses had to go right down to their feet.) The church couldn't control the government, but they did have a lot of power over everybody's daily life in Quebec.

Eventually things changed and now Quebec is one of the most secular parts of North America. A lot of people have some nominal attachment to the Catholic Church, but there don't seem to be a whole lot of committed Christians here. I get the impression that the super-restrictive Christianity of the past eventually pushed people away.

But Christianity doesn't have to be that way. From what I've seen, filling Christianity with extra restrictions that are only very loosely based on the Bible seems to help people obey the "do not" rules in the Bible, but not the "do" rules, especially, "Love your neighbour as yourself," and, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength," which happen to be the two most important commands in the Bible.

But enough preaching. I've been to mass at the Catholic cathedral here twice. It was far from full, but there was reasonably good turnout. I couldn't understand it very well, but what few things I could understand seemed consistent with Christianity the way I see it, and they don't seem to be trying to control people's lives the way they used to.

This past Sunday I went to a Protestant church with some of the other students. There are only two or three Protestant churches in Chicoutimi. Somebody said this one seems to be a Brethren church. It was different from what I'm used to. The chairs were arranged facing the centre instead of the front. Most of the women (but not all of them) wore some sort of covering on their heads, but aside from that, people were dressed pretty normally. During the service, people would sit quietly for a short time, then someone would get up and say something, pray, or get the church singing a song. (A couple of the songs were familiar, but in French.) And eventually, somebody preached a sermon, and they served communion. This was probably the first time I've ever had communion with wine. (Seems like most Protestant churches use grape juice, just like Jesus would have if he'd been an early-21st century Protestant.) I understood the church service better than at the Catholic church, but it was still tough. I think I picked up on something about Jesus having victory over death, and the sermon had something to do with Proverbs 15:1, which says (in English), "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." So it seemed to be a pretty good church, and the people seemed friendly (although I unfortunately spent more time talking with my classmates than with the other people).

Meanwhile, at the university, I'm not the only Christian in this program. There are some others in my class and in other classes. A few of them are here because they want to be missionaries in French-speaking parts of Africa. I've gone to church with a few of them each week, and last week several of us got together to pray. On Sunday a bunch of us went to the church that I already told you about. They seem to be eager to make a difference in the lives of the people in this program. As for making a difference in the city in general, sometimes I wonder how much difference we can make in Chicoutimi when we don't speak French very well and we're only here for five weeks. But God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), so who knows?