King of Kings Church

Sun 20th: I searched on the internet for a church service to attend. I am very interested in charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity, and this form of faith is growing rapidly here, as well as in Australia and much of the world. In particular, hispanic Catholic charismatics are having a big influence in the U.S. It seems expressive religion fits well with a people who are also expressive in affection, soccer, dance, etc. Curiosity about this expressiveness was the single main reason South America appealed to me. It is not always a good thing though, as a girl two weeks later would say there are lots of fights, since sometimes this expression is channeled in the wrong way. However my internet searching experiences have been frustrating, being very time consuming yet not always fruitful.

I toured Plaza de Mayo, one of the main, central plazas, today(?) One historic building had a small museum. The pink stone Palace of the City Government had a commemoration to Argentine greats, and I just avoided some marching guards! The Bank of the Nation has huge Ancient Greece style pillars, as do some other buildings in the city such as the engineering faculty of one university. The main Catholic cathedral of the city is impressive, and the site of the first church in Buenos Aires. Curiously, the church had a section and tomb(?) for general José de San Martín, a national hero and one of the main libertadores who "liberated" South America from Spain. This seemed mix of "church" and "state" seemed unusual, although probably a good thing - at least it´s being relevant.

I walked around through market stalls, had dinner, and then returned for mass at 6pm at the cathedral. A standard service I found uninteresting to be frank, particularly because I do not speak the language. Afterwards, the changing of the guards for San Martin´s tomb was interesting, although not Buckingham Palace! I caught the train north (thank-you to Monica at the hostel for helping with navigation) to Rey de Reyes Iglesia (King of Kings Church). This is a huge Pentecostal congregation I found on the internet. It is sort of like the Hillsong of Buenos Aires (and in fact a Hillsong group were here just a few months ago), although Hillsong are very moderate by Pentecostal standards. The main pastor, Claudio, is close with a prominent U.S. Christian figure about whom many are skeptical; I don´t know enough to comment, and I won´t write Claudio off for it.

There was a small crowd out the front of the church. This service was just one of many they run throughout the weekend. A queue snaked from the door into a carpark on the side. There, I waited silently while the guy ahead of me and the girl behind me in the queue waited with headphones on. Eventually, I interrupted the guy, Ángel. I wanted to experience this event, and a major part of that was meeting the people! He spoke a little English. Eventually the girl joined in also, translating the word "(street) blocks" for him. She is studying English translation, but has only just started. In the service, we sat together. The music and worship was lively. A guy spoke for a while, who was apparently pretty funny. Later Claudio spoke. The girl got headphones for me, so I could hear the English translator. Claudio is an extremely gifted speaker, very dynamic and motivating. He spoke, I recall, of overcoming various hurts. One point which struck me was, "Don´t ask, why am I not happy, just be it!" I suspect he is right, and I felt this was a deep "emotional"-type [right-brained] truth (as opposed to a rationalistic one). I felt it was a big insight, and although one my logical brain finds challenging to grasp.

The translator echoed Claudio´s emotion as well as his words. When he called for the Holy Spirit, and the people responded with enthusiasm, she would sometimes laugh into the microphone and praise God! It was a good thing actually - it is hard not to smile, laugh, and be happy when someone is expressing those same things into your ear! The girl next to me later explained that people react to the Holy Spirit / worship differently. She cries (happy tears, she clarified), whereas Ángel expresses joy. As for uniquely Pentecostal manifestations, the translator (and Claudio?) spoke in tongues a bit. I have been around charismatics enough, and have formed my own convictions after extensive research, to be completely comfortable with this. Also a young man was prayed for up the front of church. A "catcher" readied himself, but the guy did not fall backwards ("slain in the Spirit"). For me, this non-event´adds rather than subtracts credibility. (Hillsong, by contrast, do not allow speakers to speak in tongues etc.) The music was incredible!! The songs were all in Spanish, but I could understand nearly half the lyrics, because they were relatively simple and because I know the context - Christian language. Everybody in the full room seemed in tune.

Outside the rain was literal. After waiting on the steps, and snapping a couple of photos, the girl walked me to the bus station. The last subway train stopped around 10pm, and I had thought the service would surely not go for more than 2 hours! I was very wrong. As I realised this time was approaching, I decided to stay and "wing it". Though a risk in a big, strange city, things usually turn out OK. The church was consistent with Argentine culture, in which people eat dinner and stay out very late. I am a trasnochador (night owl) in Australia, but here I am not, relative to the people! I feel tired by midnight or 1am. Anyway we only got away around midnight. Things did turn out - the girl took me to a bus station, told me which bus to catch, and to tell the driver ($) "1.10" in Spanish. Eventually I spotted the Obelisk, got off later, and walked a mere 8 blocks or so home. The church was an amazing experience, and I was very hyped from it!