Worship, my culture

I was listening to the BBC one night going home and the programme at the time was "World have your say". The topic was about people having to act "White" in order to be looked at as successful in their careers and other aspects of their lives.
The programme unearthed many attitudes that many people have especially here in Africa, Uganda to be specific.
We are slowly being conformed to a certain lifestyle and its not deliberate. That is the direction that the whole world looks to be going. the language is changing. The dressing has changed. billboards are screaming at us to conform. The television insists that we change or else we are left out.
I recently was watching "The bachelorette" on TV and one of the guys said he was a virgin and was keeping himself for that one special person. And how he was made fun of! Hollywood insists it is out of fashion to be a virgin and we are conforming steadily!
How does all this fit on a Worship blog?
The culture of a worshipper determines his response to God's revelation of Himself. God even reveals Himself differently to different cultures. To a nature lover, He reveals himself through this nature. To an astronomy enthusiast, He reveals Himself through a peak into the Cosmos. To a poor hungry man, He is a God who provides food and pays school fees for his children.
Now response to God will definitely be different.
The secret in a true genuine response is in discovering who you actually are and responding to our awesome God respectively.
The danger in trying to be who you aren't is that you say words that you don't mean. You act in ways that are obviously imported from another culture.
You are lying to God if what you say to Him doesn't apply to your life. It is an ingenuine response to what He has revealed himself to be.
How can a poor man from Butambala who has never had a chance to go out of his village sing of vastness of oceans and the beauty of snowflakes and the beauty of autumn? It is not genuine at all! True the oceans are vast and snowflakes are individually unique and beautiful and Autumn(the fall) is beautiful in New England but that from our gentleman's mouth is not genuine.
The reason we are born where we are born, live where we live and in the cultures we have is that through all this we shall derive an honest response to God.
God has entrusted us with who we are for the length of time He has decided that even in the most painful of such times we shall come out with something that would glorify Him.
It is a shame for a person who God has enabled to go through fire to refuse to come up with a creative way he can honor the God that pulled Him through but rather use an off-the-shelf response.
We in Africa should come up with worship that truly and genuinely honors God. Something that comes out of our experiences and speaks of a God who has seen us through. It is painfully sad that the urban African church has distanced itself from making this happen. But rather we want to go with the latest trend and the latest song whether or not it is representative of who we are. The guitarist has lengthened his strap till he plays it from the below the knee. Why? Well some popular worship leader does so, so why not?
God help us.
There has been no better time than this time to effect change in the church. There has been quite an outpouring of God's Spirit in the Church in Africa. The church is growing rapidly. Don't we have enough testimony in our lives that we can't sing about it? Have our dances become so demonic that we can't even dance with our local dances to honour our God? Then why did he give us custom designed bodies that can take on such rigorous strokes?
Come on Africa, arise to your place!

Worship, In pain and suffering

He comes back home to rest only to be met by senseless criminals whose agenda looks more than taking a few bucks. Bludgeoned using whichever objects they could find, he is left there writhing in pain. It is a long brutal night for the loved ones as they struggle to get help. He eventually is taken to Mengo hospital. It is all too painful to take in because we have all know him very closely. Nearly everyone recounts the last time they saw him

This is not a story made up by Jerry Bruckheimer for his latest CSI episode. This is Michael Kaddu. A friend and a fellow minister in the Anglican Youth Fellowship (AYF) Choir.
Family and friends are crying to God on his behalf.

We (AYF) are allowed to enter the hospital room to see him. I don't know what to say. Then he lifts his hand and waves. I smile back. Through the smashed jaws he open his mouth to speak with all the energy that he has and what he says leaves me dumbfounded
"I praise the Lord", he says, "because he spared my life. You would be coming from my funeral. I praise the Lord because the love showed to me is a great testimony. I have been badly injured but thank God my brain is intact. I am thinking straight"

After we prayed for him and family I could not help thinking about this great man of God. He was going through a lot of pain but could trace out whatever was good and give glory to God for that.
I could feel my own inadequacy. Such manifestations of worship make all poetry evaporate.

A report from South Africa where he is right now for further treatment from another dear friend Andrew Mujugira says that when he was discharged from hospital he went and sat at the piano and played "How great thou art!"
There are champions of worship that live among us whose silent displays of worship can only be heard by the LORD.

Maybe what awes us so much about the cross is the raw and crude display of love that makes us backspace our love poems and just gaze at God in amazement.

A great modern hymn writer, Matt Redman has written a song "Blessed be Your Name" that at the moment resounds in my mind

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me

When the world's "all as it should be"

Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name.

These words echo the words of Job and Habbakuk about praising God in very difficult circumstances. His Spirit He puts in us gives us grace to respond to Him in ways the world in all its craft can never understand.
Indeed Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Worship, The Painter of the painting

The universe is His canvass, His word is His paint brush.
Saying designs and great mysteries into being
Defining science with every brush stroke

Yet we know Him not

He speaks stars, constellations, planets, supernovae and many more into existence
He paints answers to questions encoded in the brain of man but not yet thought of

Yet we know Him not

He displays His painting for us to see at short distances. The longest...? Don't even ask
Of course the shortest distance is only 230,000 light years
We eventually catch a glimpse of the painting and we are thrilled!

Yet we know Him not

Our glory is in the fact that we saw the painting but we forget the Painter
We praise our telescopes but forgot the Painter of the painting
Hi Fives are in the air, this is OUR achievement!
We are engrossed in our folly as we congratulate ourselves and refuse to mention God lest we are frowned upon
We immortalise ourselves with biographies
Our cheers drown out the still small voice:
"Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?"
declares the LORD. " Isaiah 66:2a

Yet we know not the Painter of the painting
The one who painted all that we see.....

O Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder consider all the works thine hand hath made
I see the stars and hear the mighty thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul my savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Worship, Seeing Him in His creation

Elihu is the name of a man that very few people have quoted. Many people are sure that they have read the name somewhere in the bible but not quite sure where.

Elihu was a very young man when his contributions were noted and recorded. In the book of Job, many people are familiar with the three friends that came to commiserate with him. However there is a young man called Elihu. He is much younger than the three friends and He is there watching as Job and the three friends try to get to the bottom of understanding the reasons for Job’s suffering.

He is younger, so he waits until everyone is done but by the end he is fuming (obuswandi!). He is angry with the three pals as well as Job. The young man thinks of himself as God’s representative then he starts to speak. Even God at the end of the book makes no mention of him yet this young man set the stage for God to show up.

This man speaks for 6 full chapters. He is indignant on God’s behalf that no one can find anything to condemn Job. He is angry that Job says he is blameless. The first three chapters (Job 32 – 35) he is breathing fire out at Job for justifying himself. The last three chapters, it is like he forgets about what he was telling Job and he focuses heavenward to worship God. It is that part that I find so captivating

Job 36: 24-26

24 Remember to extol his work,
which men have praised in song.

25 All mankind has seen it;
men gaze on it from afar.

26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.

He is taken up by this revelation of who God is that he puts aside his discourse against Job. He had started his speech trying to be God’s defense attorney but by now he is overwhelmed at who God really is. He had started with anger but now God’s revelation of Himself is so overwhelming that he starts to worship Him.

Job 36: 29-30

29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?

30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.

He gazes at His creation and all he sees is God in his splendor and power.

Job 37:3-4

3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.

4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.

It looks at the moment that it is about to rain or it has already started to rain. Elihu, in my opinion, was outside and as the rain was falling on him he had already lost himself in worship that He just continued to worship God. He could hear Him in the rain. He was overwhelmed by the revelation of God through His creation and he just could not stop his response to such an amazing God.

When he heard the thunder, it was just like hearing God’s voice. I can picture him goose-pimpled all over! Not because of the cold but because of God’s revelation of Himself. Remember, by this time God had not yet spoken!!

His worship set such a stage for God that He just came down! Hallelujah!!

The verse that nearly makes me want to jump out of my seat is Job 38:1

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.

It was out of the storm that Elihu had just derived a revelation of God from. It makes me feel like the worship just ruptured the heavens and the LORD came down.

By the time Elihu was about to finish, you could even sense his deep reverence in these words

Job 37:23-24

23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

24 Therefore, men revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?

God has revealed Himself to us in ways even greater than He did in those days. Elihu was amazed at the storm. We see even much more than storms.

Our generation is able to see the mountains and hills on the moon.

Bill Bryson once said that we have so much advanced in our technology that if anyone lit a match on the moon, we can see it!

What God has made known of Himself today should leave us with enough awe and amazement to inspire worship that this earth has never known. We have more raw materials to work with to respond to a God so powerful than anyone in the history of this planet. Yet we are caught up in our business. We are actually more awed by the technology that sees the stars than we are awed by the One who made the stars! God have mercy on us.

These are some words from Matt Redman's "Face down" album

"No one can sing of things they have not seen

God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse

Worship starts with seeing You
Our hearts respond to Your revelation"

Worship, An introduction to creativity

After having a very good laugh when I saw this picture, it got me thinking about my life and our lives as Christians. It reminds me of some verses in the bible. You too, when you have had your laugh, will realize that there is a lot to learn from this picture.
It reminds me of "Our righteous acts are like filthy rags". When you meditate on this picture, you see that there is a deliberate and careful action to ensure safety. Quite going the extra mile to get what you want. You may ask, why doesn't the mouse die to self and just leave the cheese alone. All its rodent nature (Guess its the equivalent of human nature) just won't let that happen.
Sometimes going into great detail to explain something narrows its meaning so much. Yet we are in fellowship with a God who uses the same words to address the 10th century monk as well as a 21st century internet geek. I will let you learn whatever God wants you to learn from the above picture. Usually He speaks different things to different people.
This brings us to the creativity that God uses to communicate His word. He goes the extra mile in indulging all forms of art when He wants to tell us something. How many times have you heard someone tell of a time he/she was looking at something and then "God said..". He uses pictures that will help us understand Him better. For each person or society it is different.

Michael Card in his album "Scribbling in the sand" unveils the art that Jesus used when they brought Him the woman that had been caught in adultery. Michael Card uses this expression in the chorus " The same fingers of the strong hand that had written ten commands ( on stone tablets) for now was simply scribbling in the sand)

What a powerful picture of creativity. Even Jesus uses creativity in speaking to us! This requires of us a response to His creativity with the creativity He invested in us. Now that is worship!!!

Worship, His universe revealed

"Meditating on Your power, I lift my eyes to count the stars.

I give up the thought before I even count five

The vastness of the universe is but a speck of dust to You

Yet I am engraved on the palm of your hand"

Taken from the song "You are lifted high"

This was one of the first songs I wrote when at university and though it has never been recorded, it represents a lot of what I feel.
I was introduced to a love of astronomy by my Geodesy lecturer at university. And I remember sitting in the lecture room wondering why every Astronomer was not a believer in God. There was so much evidence of a great God but this knowledge is hidden from their eyes.
I have always been mesmerized by what lies in the skies but from that moment I knew I wanted to know more of the power of God expressed through His creation.
The scale of things just beats my mind. It is like God has made the heavens His workshop.
Psalms 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

I am amazed at the way God reveals himself according to the technology people have attained at the time. To Job or David, He even didn't bother to tell him that it is the earth going round the sun. Yet we are amazed at David's description of the universe. How accurate and yet very relevant. How technologically and poetically correct he was.
In later posts I would love to indulge you into my insights into the complexity of this universe and how it declares the glory of our God.
When scientists peak into a telescope they are all astounded at the harmony of the heavens. It is like an orchestra being played out for whoever has ears. What is even more intriguing is the fact that you are listening to an orchestra that was played millions of years ago yet you are listening to it now. Not recorded, but LIVE!!
A God who operates at such a scale is really awesome! There are no adjectives to describe our God. Because each adjective falls short. Beautiful cannot define Him. He defines beautiful
Our God is an awesome God!

Worship, The definition

I have understood worship to be a response to who God reveals Himself as. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by a revelation of God's love and we are moved to tears. Sometimes we get a revelation of His power and anger and we are terrified.God's revelation of Himself will usually result in an eruption of worship from a sensitive waiting vessel. A worshipper, then, would be one who is sensitive to God's revelation and has formatted his/her being to respond.

Worship, the introduction

Worship!! A word that has many equivalents in other languages. It is a word that we have come across many times and somehow reflects our reverence for God.
Join me as I embark on a journey of worship, and share with you my thoughts and feelings about what worship is. A journey into the depth of the soul in search for its creator. A numbing experience as we gaze into what God deems fit to show of Himself. An experience of response to His character and nature. Allow His face to shine on you and may you be forever transformed