Until you live in China. Or Dubai. Definitely not "standard" mass type behavior.
For starters, church here is on Fridays. That's because the weekend here is Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the start of our work week (like Monday for you). So already, the Sabbath is confusing.
Dubai has an area where various rulers have graciously donated land for expats and those "non-Muslims" to practice Christian worship. It's a bit weird to get in the car and drive 20 minutes to a HUGE area out in the desert where all of the churches are clustered together. But when I really think about it - I realize we are so blessed and lucky to be living in a Muslim country where the ruler actually encourages AND donates his land/money for Christians to gather and worship. There are also many churches that meet at other places - hotels, community centers, etc. The church we attend is in the Jebal Ali community of churches... in the middle of nowhere.
There is no parking lot. Just a bunch of cars parked randomly in the sand. It's a nightmare to get a spot and then to get OUT of the spot. You have to remind yourself you were just in church.... act nicely!
Today we went to a different Catholic church (there's 2 here). One in the city, not in the designated "Christians can worship out in the desert HERE" spot. The land there was also donated by a Sheikh. The church itself is said to accommodate 1700 people. If that's true, there were over 3000 people there. It was PACKED. To the point that you were literally touching the entire side of your body to your neighbor's when standing and sitting. I'm talking body to body, full contact with your neighbor, packed in like sardines, I can't even reach my diaper bag, I know when you breathe seating.
This is totally awesome, right? Especially when there are 7 SERVICES on Fridays. Honestly, there was probably over 2000 people at this one service. We felt lucky to have gotten a seat (we went 20 minutes early for rosary and even 20 minutes early, we were in the very back row), until we got smushed by 5-too-many in the pew.
2000+ people. We were the only white ones there. Honestly. If you have never been the minority in your life, you will quickly remedy that if you ever live abroad. This doesn't bother us anymore, but it does bother the 18 month old who was clinging to me for dear life.
Who was there you ask? Mostly Indians. People who you might see working somewhere and would think "could not be Christians." Oh, but they are. And I'll say... they are the most devout Catholics I've ever seen. Packing a lot of people into small spaces really isn't out of their ordinary.
Just when I thought sitting in a pew was the worst location for the service, we went outside only to find another couple hundred gathered in the 100 degree heat and sun, on their knees.
So humbling.
when you see only one set of footprints in the sand, I was carrying you
So yes, we do have churches in Dubai. Not exactly conventional, but more humbling and definitely more packed than anywhere else I've ever been... and I've been a lot of places!
