Worship

It was a fundraiser Sunday for that church in Madesi, an ever-ongoing effort to raise money to finish their new church building.

And so we watched lines and lines of women and children and men dancing their way up to the front to the collection plate, where they would dance and sing and drop 20 kwacha notes in one by one, rejoicing in the Lord. Women would carry up buckets of peanuts, men would shoulder bags of corn.

I want to see you dance for the Lord, the preacher said later in the service.

And so we all danced and clapped and turned for the Lord.

Our driver, Akim, later told us, They will give until they have nothing more to give. They will change a 1000 kwacha note (about $3) into 20K notes so that they can feel like they are giving more. Giving is an act of rejoicing; we give and we are so happy to give.

It was one of the happiest church services I have ever been to.

I feel like it is so easy to bear your testimony on trials. The Lord helps us through trials, and it is true, we often gain faith and strength in the hardest of moments. But I want to try bearing my testimony more on the happiness that the gospel brings. On the fact that we can be oppressed by temptation and trials on every side, and Christ can still bring peace into our lives. On the miracle of hope, the magic of a smile. On the inexpressible joy that comes from testimony and truth.

I love 2 Corinthians 4 because of its undying optimism, its courage, and the faith in Christ that it expresses. Paul exclaims, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

I want to stop complaining and wake up and smell the coffee (figuratively speaking, of course). I want to be able to see past the troubles and perplexities. To rejoice in what I have, to give with all my heart, and to smile, because even in the midst of poverty—even in a Chichewan church service in Madesi—one can feel the spirit of Christ. It is everywhere—in our hymns, but also in their dancing. In our tithing envelopes, and also their collection plates. In our crinkled green bills, and their bags of corn. There is no one right way to worship, no one way to express how your relationship with Christ makes you feel, no one way to give back to the Lord.

The gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy.

So yes, I will dance for the Lord, and I will glory in my Redeemer one Sunday.

And I will sing “Lead Kindly Light” and bear my testimony the next, and I will glory in my Redeemer that Sunday too.

The spirit that's there, it is the same.

And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

2 Samuel 6:14