Warakoze Yesu! (Thank you Jesus!) What an appropriate chorus
to sing on my first full day back in Rwanda. There was a lot that I didn’t
understand in church today, but this was one of the few phrases I did recognize,
and yes, there is much to be thankful for. Worshipping with other believers has
always been one of my favorite things about traveling to new places…I may not
understand exactly what is being said, but there is a unity that comes in
knowing that you are still in the presence of the Lord with your brothers and
sisters in Christ regardless of language or culture.
The message today was about praise and worship, and the
speaker talked a bit about Hebrews 13:15:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of the lips that
confess his name.
Where are our hearts when we come to worship and give praise
to our God? Do we make it about us? Or do we humble our hearts and truly
worship God? This verse and message have been a great source for meditation
today, particularly in a setting where I don’t speak the language and generally
have little idea of what’s going on. I find it easy to get distracted while at
church back home because I know what to expect – I take the general experience
of church for granted so it’s easy to get hung up on details that don’t really
matter, and it takes extra effort some days to get my heart in a place of true
worship. But today, when I didn’t know the songs or what was going to happen next,
I found myself looking inward more frequently and worshipping from a very different
place…a place that made me much more aware of God’s presence in the church body
this morning.
I was hoping to post a video of one of the choirs at church today, but I'm not having luck with the internet connection. Just know that we were worshipping with you and praying for you all!
Warakoze Yesu!
No comments:
Post a Comment