Worship!

There's not too much to update you on in terms of work. I've been staying half busy I guess, still trying to get into the swing of things and figure out my place here. But the week was exciting with visits from two different groups of Canadians, eh! And last night the study abroad students arrived back in Kampala but will only be staying until tomorrow morning.

But and interesting opportunity came up for me to lead a morning bible study on Fridays this month. Every morning our staff meets to sing a few songs and have devotions. And I am responsible for Fridays this month, the theme being "worship."

So I got here a little early to find the guitar that had been horribly out of tune the last few weeks back in top form. After messing around a little on the guitar, James, who usually leads worship, convinced me to play guitar and lead! Let me say it has been a long time since I played but it was great... I felt at home again.


What is worship?
You could say it's "Reverent love and devotion accorded God," or the "Ceremonies, prayers or other religious forms by which this love is expressed." And you'd be right in a way, but worship can't be confined in a dictionary definition, it's too big, it's too indescribable. The meaning of the word "worship" as seen in the Bible, is not easily contained in that word. The word used is in a way much simpler, yet more profound on so many levels. "Worship," as we use it, more accurately means to bow down, to fall face down and prostrate oneself. And I really like that image.

Worship should make us fall down because the one we worship is Awesome, His Majesty and Power and Beauty are unsurpassed. We can't help but praising simply because of who He is. I think praising Him for His glory and singing songs and dancing dances for Him is the first, and probably most visible way we worship. Song has an ability to get to places in our heart that spoken words cannot and something indescribable happens when we offer songs of worship.

The Psalms are full of this kind of worship.

Psalm 92:1-4
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.

And Psalm 8 is also pretty good.

In the year 2009, it seems on the surface there's not much to give thanks for, not much to sing songs about. Uganda is a country with an annual per-capita income of $420, The life expectancy is around 50 years, the HIV infection rate is around 7%, Millions live without access to clean water and hundreds of thousands are still displaced because of fighting.* And Uganda is by no means the most impoverished and broken of all the nations. Is there anything in this world that hasn't been blemished by sin, by corruption, greed, disease, death, hunger and thirst? Only one thing, and that's God Himself. He alone is Holy, He alone is unblemished and for that we worship Him.

Thanks for continuing to read. I think my next post will be on shoes... stay tuned!

Peace,
Matt


*As a footnote, good things are happening in this country. There is hope and there is promise and I assure I will make sure you hear those things too.