Worship
This morning I worshiped at my church. Several hundred people gathered in a large auditorium designed, no doubt, by some of the finest architects. Polished wood beams supported the high ceiling. Sunlight illumined the space through stain-glassed windows. A high-tech sound system magnified the voices of the worship leaders and those of a robed choir. A magnificent pipe-organ blared the melodies of familiar hymns. We sat in rows upon our cushioned seats, standing and sitting in unison to the well planned order of worship. This is what I know as worship. I have repeated it thousands of times. Is that the fullness of worship because it’s what I know or is there more?
Last Sunday, in the small mountain village of Las Majadas in Guatemala, I worshiped in a crowded dimly-lit hut of a building that had no windows. Like my church here in Oklahoma it had beams supporting the roof, but they were rough-hewed and so low that the tallest among us could not stand erect beneath them. There were no instruments, only the untrained acapella voices of the locals singing Spanish hymns from photo-copies handed to those who could read. The preacher bantered back and forth with the worshipers, the roosters crowed outside the door, and a dog wandered in and out at will. Those attending sat shoulder-to-shoulder on low planks spanning concrete blocks. I was moved by the voices of praise and the gratitudes of faith.
On Thursday of last week my group visited one of the many villages surrounding Lake Atitlan. I climbed to the top of the village and entered a Catholic church built by Spaniards in 1547. I sat in the back and listened as a choir of women sang great Spanish melodies. The women knelt before the candled-altar in their native dress with covered heads. Their pure voices echoed off the walls and ceiling of the cathedral-like room. Others sat in random spots throughout the sanctuary. Some staring straight ahead, others folded over the wooden pew in front of them in deep prayer. Still others took their turn in the confessional booths situated at the side of the room. Prayer, confession, and song. Worship at its best. I have much to learn to worship well.
Comments
Share your thoughts...
