Alabanza a Jehová

Es alabanza, adoracíon, lo que te ofrezco, Señor, en el nombre maravilloso del Jesús...

Thursday night I stayed at El Proyecto - as I have become so accustomed to doing. I had the opportunity for the first time, however, to attend culto with some of the families. We went down the road a little ways to a "church" nearby. I had met the pastor before, but I had never seen the "church". It really brought the words to the good old hymn to life... "The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple..." We arrived to a pavilion-like set up with just enough plastic chairs for the roughly 20 of us who were there, and a simple wooden pulpit. It was completely open to the outside, and it was a beautiful fresh night. We had no instruments for music, no hymnals or a screen for song lyrics, no microphone, no altar, no offering plate, but the Spirit was alive. We sang with joy using the instruments God made in us - and maybe we weren't in tune, or rhythm, or even altogether, but we sang with our whole selves - offering worship to our Lord. Our scripture reading was Luke 10:38-42:

38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

And then we had a brief reflection on it - reminding us of the importance of God's word. Of not busying ourselves with things of this world - things we think we have to do, preparations we have to make, obligations we must fulfill - and to slow ourselves down and take in the Words of Jesus.
We prayed, we listened to the word, we sang, we gave our offerings, we shared the Spirit. It was a small group of people, it was a simple set-up, we didn't have any technology, or great worship band, or drama team, or liturgical dance, or background music, or food/fellowship time, or special lighting... we just gathered and praised His name. For me, simplicity is bliss when worshiping.


So, last night was Saturday. And here at the church in Sabana Grande Saturday is Culto de Jovenes (Young folk's Worship). Well, Pablo's (my host dad/pastor) mother just had surgery. So, the Jovenes decided that it would be a good idea to go visit her. We met together before we left and prayed, then we gathered some money to buy some juice as a gift to the family. We walked over to Abuela Rosa Emelia's house and gathered in her living room. After everyone greeted her Hermano Pedro explained why we came we a darling little illustration: "If I had a hammer, and I hammered one of Rebekah's toes, would only her toe hurt, or would her whole body feel it?" And of course Abuelo went over and got the hammer for us to try... haha. And Pedro continued, "Of course, she would feel it in her whole body. Well it's the same with Christ's body. When one of our members is hurting, we all feel it."
So, we surrounded Abuela and read some scripture; we sang some songs; we prayed for her. It's sad though, because she can't really talk right now because her surgery was a removing a tumor from her neck that was causing her to lose her voice - and right now her voice is very delicate, so she can't even speak. But because of this tumor, she hasn't been able to sing for years. Isaac told me that she used to pass for specials in church all the time to sing. Last night we sang three of her favorite songs - two Psalms, 23 and 103, and El Gradacemiento.
Two things touched me significantly. First, the majority of the Jovenes did not know the words to these songs by heart, we used our Bibles for the Psalms, and then the final one was led by the few and the brave... we had no accompaniment with us, and sounded... well horrible I'm sure. But we sang, regardless... Second, Abuela... although she couldn't sing with us, was mouthing the words to the songs right along with us... and you could tell that although a sound didn't leave her mouth, she sang with her heart.
The love of the young people of El Buen Pastor was apparent as they gladly gave their Saturday night to a recuperating elderly woman who just needed a little lift up, a little prayer, and little extra touch of Jesus' love.