My mother is very devoted to church. She attends two Indonesian churches, both located in Amsterdam. The first one is very strict and has their sermon in the morning. My brother and I went to that church too when we were kids, but as we grew older we both decided to look for options elsewhere.

The second church my mother attends is pure chaos. Their sermon starts somewhere between 3 pm to 4 pm depending on how the wind blows. My mother is a translator for this church and my brother the sound tech guy. Since the corona pandemic, I am a worship leader with karaoke machine for this church.

A lot of people seem to have grown tired of the Indonesian chaos church. The few younger people that went to this church have stopped showing up. They either moved on to a different church or just lost interest al together. The majority that attends this still comes to this Indonesian chaos church, are elderly Indonesian people who only speak the Indonesian language and a handful of Dutch people.

Two weeks ago on Sunday

Two weeks ago on a Sunday was the 1st bump in the road. My boyfriend and I were at my mother’s house. We had breakfast together, freshly baked croissants with cheese and a cup of coffee or tea. My mother was ready to go. My boyfriend was ready to go. My brother wasn’t going. I was stalling all morning. Not knowing what dress to wear. My hair was a mess. I honestly didn’t want to go. My mother was looking forward to this service, because she would be translating our old friend from Indonesia. He will only be here in The Netherlands for a few months.

Finally we got into the car at about 2 pm. It’s normally about a 30 minute drive from my mother’s place to the church in Amsterdam. We ended up stuck in traffic, it was insane! We rarely have these kinds of traffic jams on a Sunday in The Netherlands. All roads were jammed.

At some point, our car started to overheat. We had to stop at an emergency lane. While waiting for the car tocool down, we tried to recalculate another route to get to the church. Meanwhile my mother tried to contact the church leaders of the Indonesian chaos church that she wasn’t going to make it. It was 3.30 pm by then and normally the sermon would start around that time.

We tried the other route. Somehow we ended up on the other side of Amsterdam, driving around in circles because of all the road work and traffic jams. After another hour of still getting nowhere near the church, we decided to take a pitstop at a McDonalds.

My mother asked if there was maybe a trainstation nearby. If we were unable to reach the church by car, she would just go herself by train. Unfortunately there was no trainstation nearby. She was dissappointed but agreed that it was best to head back to her house instead.

By the time we got at her house, it was 5 pm. We ordered Chinese takeaway and spend the rest of that Sunday in my mother’s backyard, enjoying the sun.

Last Sunday

Chaos hit an all time low last Sunday. My boyfriend and I spent another weekend at my mother’s place and had breakfast together. This time, my mother went ahead to visit the strict Indonesian Church in the morning first. My boyfriend and I would meet up with her later in the Indonesian chaos church.

We decided to leave earlier this time. Luckily no traffic jam this time. When we drove up to the church, we noticed there were tables and chairs placed outside, where all sorts of different people were chilling and chatting. There were balloons and flags. Loud music was coming from the church lobby, with people dancing. It looked like a fun party that would take place for hours and hours.

I asked one of the people attending the event what was going on. They said they were using the whole church building for the entire day for their special event. Apparently the leaders of the Indonesian chaos church were notified about it months ago.

When I heard that, I really wanted to leave right then and there. But then two old Indonesian aunties arrived to the church too. One of them comes with a special cab, because she is in a wheelchair and can’t walk by herself. The other aunty lives near the church. They were both confused and surprised at seeing all these partying people at the church building. I asked them if they were aware of this event and they were not.

Not much later, my mother arrived too. She too was unaware and right away called the leaders of the Indonesian chaos church. They insisted that it was a misunderstanding. One of the aunties offered to have the Church service at her own house. But, the church leader insisted we all just have to wait for them to arrive.

Finally, at 3 pm, the church leaders of the Indonesian church arrived. They then simply said that they forgot about this party but that they were certain that they could still have their own church sermon later on that day in that building.

As fun as the party was, I didn’t feel like staying any longer. My boyfriend and I went home. Later that evening my brother informed me how the Indonesian church service went. They started their service at 6 pm and ended it at 8 pm.

So much chaos on a Sunday. To think that I didn’t really wanted to go in the first place. Next time I’ll just skip Sunday all together.