Senin @ UKSW - Kebaktian Senin 5 Okt

On the duty statement for all academic staff is a requirement that you attend Monday Service (Kebaktian Senin) at 9am each Monday, the same day that staff are required to wear their UKSW shirt - imagine what Qantas stewards wear, but groovier and batik-like. The service is held in a new auditorium, funded by Americans, I think. This week's service, as it happens, was hosted by Faculty of Language and Literature. Staff read the prayers, students sang in the choir, performed a drama about idolatorous leaders, and there was small game, where we got in groups and cooperated on an actvity. A collection was taken - that's 20.000 rupiah I won't see again.


I've learnt lots of Indonesian words over the past few years, but not many words that are associated with a religious service. During the service I scribbled down as many words as I could: firman (word of God, sermon), doa pembukaan (opening prayer), pengakuan doa (confession), and so on.
The student choir, content aside, were amazing. They did the traditional evangelical stuff - Morning has broken - but then took centre stage and performed a song with intricate, soaring harmonies that reminded me of the gorgeous stuff produced by The Free Design in the late 1960s. Groovy as. Following that there were more traditional hymns, the student play, a reading, and more songs (with Frances, in a duet, doing some great vocal work). Then group prayer. At the end, the student choir, unknowingly influenced by The Beach Boys, Sagitarrius, The Free Design, Association, and other groups of that ilk, practitioners of that genre known as sunshine pop, soared again.

For someone from a Catholic background, it was quite an exuberant, evangelical entertainmant. Next week's service is being hosted by the Faculty of Engineering or Computer Science. Should be as interesting as this week's service, I hope.