Hallelujah! A Declaration of Worship

About a hundred members of the Indian Christian Assembly gather in a two-leveled house converted into a church on St Hollis, Queens on a wintery Sunday. The worshipers sit in a semi-circle facing a table covered by a white cloth. There is a wooden pulpit, and, nearby, a small stage with two guitars and a violin. On the right and left of the stage, an American and an Indian flag are raised. The men and women that come into this church are all from Kerala, a region in the south of India, where Pentecostalism prevails as a spiritual movement. The men in their Sunday vests and women in their colorful saris sit separately, while the pastor walks to the pulpit to begin his sermon.

A man sitting at the back starts humming prayers in Malayalam, the Kerala dialect. He speaks very fast, eyes slammed shut, his hands raised towards the ceiling –or Heaven. In between his mumbles, he pronounces in his quavering voice: “Hallelujah!” That simple word is his way of worshiping God. ‘Hallelujah’ literally means ‘God be praised.”

In Hebrews 13:15, it is written: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of [our] lips giving thanks to his name.”

“It has to come from the heart and the soul,” said Daisy Johnson, a 55-year-old devotee draped in a royal blue sari and a white scarf.

A group of young adults aged between 18 and 26 join the pastor on stage. Each picks up a microphone or an instrument to lead the songs honoring God. As they all sing, the lyrics appear on two screens hanging on the wall. “Hallelujahs” and “Amen” spurt out of the audience, creating an echoing effect.

In Psalm 150:1-6, the devotees are told to “Praise the Lord […] praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and the pipe, [….] let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

“It is a moment of complete silence or expression,” said 23-year-old Joel, head of the youth group. “When you say hallelujah you are having a moment with God. It’s an expression of happiness and thanks. ”

The emotionally transcendent power gliding in this spiritual site comes from the disparate rumble of “hallelujahs!”. It is almost impossible to discern who is uttering the sacred word. Praying is a moment of meditation, and depending on their “closeness” to God, explains Joel, some devotees get completely overwhelmed by the service. In the Pentecostal belief, Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit after his resurrection to guide the Christians until he comes back. Those overwhelmed by the service are believed to be inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

As the communion continues, women and men stand spontaneously and shout, murmur, or chant: “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” They clap. They dance. Some seem to be on a higher level of meditation, almost in a trance. A woman dressed in a salmon pink sari with a white veil atop her head repeats the word of worship more than 50 times within 5 minutes, bouncing back and forth on her chair.

“We place Him all the time,” said Sam Thomas, 51, secretary of the assembly, “He deservers all the glory.”

People in this church each have their own position of meditation. Some bend themselves downwards while some women cover their faces with their veils. Others hold hands or have their eyes shut. What unites them is their worship to God. Worship in its simplest form: “Hallelujah”.

The church is located 88-40, 192 St Hollis, Queens.

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