A Sermon preached at the Easton Church of the Brethren February 27, 2022.
As many of you know, I have a heart for worship, particularly, music. I find joy in sharing music and songs that help connect us to the deeper truths of God’s character. But worship is not limited to music. There are many ways to worship with and without music. The act of worship is not, and should not, be limited to one thing. It is for everyone, and it is something we can do no matter where we are or what equipment we have.
HOW CAN WE PREPARE DURING LENT?
In the season of Lent, we are in a unique season of worship for the church. Traditionally, Lent is a season of prayerful preparation, reminiscent of Jesus’s fast in the wilderness for 40 days prior to the start of His earthly ministry. In this season, worship tends to take on a more somber tone, focusing on self-denial and repentance instead of loud and boisterous praise. But not all people adhere to the strict traditions of Lenten worship, and many people observe this season in different ways. So for those of us who may not be compelled to celebrate lent with a traditional fast and prayer, what are some other ways we can prepare for the Easter during Lent?
5 HEBREW WORDS FOR PRAISE
I think we can draw inspiration on how to prepare our hearts with a worshipful attitude from the various Hebrew words used for praise. In the Hebrew Bible, there are many words for praise, but these are 5 primary words, and each word captures a different physical posture and emotion we can have. They show us that there are many dimensions to praise, and everyone connects to them differently. However, even though each of these words mean something different, they are unified by Jesus’s qualifications for worship in John 4:21-24 - spirit and truth.
For the longest time, I thought there were only 2 ways to worship - hymnals and pianos vs. slideshows and guitars. But in 2019, I went on a mission trip around the world, and learned that worship is SO MUCH MORE! Christians in all corners of the globe worship in these various ways, and all of them are equally beautiful, and genuine in spirit and truth. When I think about these different forms of worship, I think about my brothers and sisters around the world who worship in these different ways as well. Some of the most powerful worship experiences I had on my mission trip parallel these Hebrew words for praise, and I would like to share these different ways of worshiping, and I hope that it opens your eyes, as it opened mine, to the many ways we can honor God with our lives, especially in this season dedicated to drawing nearer to Him in preparation for Easter.
HALAL
The first Hebrew word for praise is “HALAL” This word may sound familiar, as it is the root word for the common exhortation “HALLELUJAH”. This word refers specifically to exuberant praise, including loud singing, dancing, or in some contexts, making a fool of yourself for the glory of God. The book of Psalms is named after a form of this word - “TEHILIM” The word “HALAL is used in Psalm 150:1 over and over again HALAL the Lord! HALAL God in His sanctuary! HALAL Him in His mighty heavens! Every sentence in this verse ends in an exclamation point, just oozing energy and exuberance.
RWANDA
In Rwanda, exuberance may be an understatement for the kind of praise we got to experience. We stayed in a small village called Rubagabaga, in a small country sandwiched between Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But this tiny little country has a riveting history and a vibrant people.
It was evident that the people are the definition of “The Joy of the Lord is My Strength”, after surviving the genocide and rebuilding their nation through peaceful reconciliation. In the church we were serving, here was out typical Sunday schedule:
8am - we would show up with church leaders and pray before the service would start
9am - congregants arrive and worship begins
10am - the children's and adult choirs lead the church into praise
11am - the sharing of testimonies and the message
12pm - closing praise
End time - as the spirit leads
It was after 10am that the energy of the service would explode. Once the choirs started singing, the entire congregation would begin to move. It wouldn’t take long for everyone, even the oldest members, to get out of their seats and start dancing up and down the aisles. It was so contagious it was hard not to! There was a freedom in worshiping that way - it feels silly when you do it by yourself, but when you do it in a group, all for the purpose of giving praise to God, it’s glorious. Church would easily last 4 hours, but even when we barely understood the words we were saying, we didn’t want to leave, because dwelling in the exuberant praises of God was just so sweet - HALLAL
ZAMAR
The verb “ZAMAR” is literally translated to “pluck”, but in most of its forms, translates to playing an instrument or the act of making music. The noun form of this word is also used interchangeably with “TEHILLIM” for “psalm” as well - “MIZMOR”. This is what we most commonly think of for praise - the act of making music, but this is the only one of at least 5 Hebrew words for praise that requires music as a stipulation for worship. Music is powerful, and helpful in connecting us to worship, but it is just one of many ways to worship.
The word ZAMAR is used in Psalm 57:7, referring specifically to making music with singing and instruments. Most of the Psalms are intended to be sung or played with music, and it has always been an important form of praise.
KENYA
When I think of making music, one of my sweetest worship memories was In Kenya. We had the opportunity to help lead a day camp at a YWAM base an hour outside of Nairobi. The picture of giraffes in the bottom right corner was taken in our backyard, and with big animals came big worship!
This camp ran for 4 days, with some campers walking an hour to come to camp each day. We would start the day with a group worship service, and then we would split into small groups with each age group, eat lunch as a group, and finish the day with our small groups or with a big group game, and at the end of the week each age group put on an act for a talent show.
We had the age group of 8-10 year old's. There were about 10 of them. The theme for the week was Jeremiah 29:11-14, so each day of camp, we would memorize a new verse in this passage. One of the Kenyan leaders with us was a gifted musician, and was great with the kids. He put on great skits, knew lots of great kids song (some of which I started to teach campers at Camp Mardela!) and had a knack for making up new songs.
On the second day we were learning Jeremiah 29:12, and we were trying to memorize it, and we discovered it had a catchy rhythm. The repeat-after-me memory verse soon turned into a rhythmic rap-like chant. We started to stand up, dance, and clap, singing “And you will call - and you will come - and you will pray - and I will listen to you”.
We were all having so much fun, some of the kids went into the main hall, grabbed some drums and instruments, and we began to march around the camp grounds, singing the refrain over and over, now with the accompaniment of guitars, ukuleles, drums, maracas, bells, and more. We then decided this was so much fun, we needed to do this to the rest of the verses! We ended up writing a little memory song for these verses, and the picture in the bottom left is our group of campers performing the song for the talent show at the end of the week.
This is one of my favorite memories with any camp, and now I will never ever forget Jeremiah 29:11-14, and in my head is the accompaniment of all the kids playing their instruments and marching around camp in joyful praise - ZAMAR
SHAVAKH
The next Hebrew word in this list is “SHAVAKH” which means to shout or address in a loud tone. In other words - “Woohoo!” This is the kind of praise you do when you are just so full of joy, you just have to shout. Much like when you’re on a roller coaster (if you like roller coaster) and you shout because you’re having fun. If you don’t like roller coasters, that’s a different kind of shout…
This word is used in Psalm 63:4 “My lips praise you because your faithful love is better than life itself” This is a bold statement about God, and one that cannot be said quietly. If God’s faithful love is better than life itself, you better believe I will be shouting that from the rooftops!
UGANDA
In Uganda, I got to experience this kind of worship in an unexpected place - in a raft on the Nile River. During this month of ministry, we had a change of plans, and suddenly had more flexibility in our schedule. We decided to take a long weekend to Jinja, Uganda, the source of the Nile, famous for its whitewater rafting. When I went on this trip, I made a commitment to myself not to spend all kinds of money on tourist adventures, because that felt contradictory to doing mission work. However, in the beginning of the trip, a group I used to sing with donated money for me to go on one big adventure for my birthday, and I chose whitewater rafting on the Nile.
There were 3 places on the river that had class 5 rapids. Our boat flipped twice.
Fortunately, we had a good group and a good guide, but after the second time we flipped, I was kind of over floating down the rapids in a lifejacket. The guide always gave us options before each rapid - Regular, Hard, or Crazy. My group always wanted to choose crazy, until just before the last rapid. I made a proposal to them, saying “I don’t know about you guys, but I think rafting is a lot more fun when you stay IN the raft. So they reluctantly agreed to my wishes and chose hard instead of crazy.
As we were going down the river, in class 5 rapids, sometimes it felt like we were in the ocean, and waves feel like they go pretty high. On this last rapid, I was praying SO HARD that we wouldn’t flip. Like, really, genuinely, faithfully praying. That’s how much I didn’t want to flip. So we were in the rapids and we hit one of those waves, and I felt the boat turn on its side. I swear, we were perpendicular to the water, and I was sure we were going to topple right over. But lo and behold, we clung to that wave, and came back down right side up and continued to still water.
After we made it, I screamed “GOD IS FAITHFUL!” so loud, I probably sounded crazy. Obviously, the people in my boat didn’t know what I was talking about. I told them I was praying that we wouldn’t flip, and God was faithful - we didn’t flip!
I was so overwhelmed with the small victory of that moment and the adrenaline of going through the rapid that I had to shout - “SHAVAKH”
YADAH
This next word, YADAH, means confession, praise, or thanksgiving. The word translated literally to “outstretched hands” from the noun “”YAD”, but when used in verbal stems, it becomes a worship term. TODAH is a form of the root word YADAH, so they have very similar meanings, and is used more specifically for thanksgiving.
In Psalm 50:14, the word “YADAH” is word as an expression of thanks to God for all the good deeds He’s done. But this word is also used in sharing that thankfulness with others. In the traditional sense “TODAH” was used for communal peace offerings, commonly called “thanksgiving (TODAH) offerings”, where a sacrifice would be made in the temple, a portion given to God, a portion to the priest, and a portion to the bringer of the sacrifice who would then share it with others. All parties benefit from “YADAH” thankfulness worship!
INDIA
In India, there was no shortage of Thanksgiving! The most remarkable aspect of Indian culture was their incredible hospitality. We spent most of our time in India preaching at different house churches. There are very few Christians in India (2%), and in many areas, they are actively persecuted, so they meet at night in people’s homes, and sometimes outside on their back porches or in their backyards. Worship services were typically structured with a couple songs that were led communally. A song book, a microphone, and assorted percussion instruments were passed around the group and everyone would participate in making or leading the music for worship. It reminded me a little bit of a campfire at church camp! Then, someone would share a testimony of how they saw God work in their lives, and someone would share a message. When we visited, we would often give the testimony and/or the message.
But then, the most important part - food and fellowship! Every single church gathering would have food. You would sit on the floor, usually in a big circle, get a large paper plate, and they would give you a big ‘ol pile of rice, chapati, some kind of curry, water or soda (Thumbs up was the soda of choice - think off-brand Indian Pepsi). If the curry was too spicy, sometimes they would offer a cream sauce to dull the spice. And whenever your plate was almost empty, they would come and fill it with rice again. You would eat the meal with your hands, and to this day I am still fully convinced that Indian food tastes better when you eat it with your hands. Of course, everyone else in the congregation was served in the same way, and everyone shared in food and fellowship. The picture I’ve included is actually a very rare moment of eating at a table. I wasn’t actually with the group on this day, and I never had the experience of eating at a table while in India except at a Subway restaurant in the capitol of the state we were in.
As our being at these churches was a special occasion, these meals were often in thankfulness for our coming to share and partake in their services, and we were not the only benefactors of this thanksgiving offering, but everyone in the church community was blessed by it as well - TODAH
BARAK
“BARAK” is the final word used for praise in this list, but it more literally translates to “bless” or “to kneel”. By its nature, when you bless God or bless someone else, you are putting yourself in a position of humility, often giving something in service. When we think of “blessings” they are often physical things that help us in some ways. Encouragement and exhortation can also be a form of spiritual blessing, and forms of praise. Psalm 145:21 uses this word when saying “Every living thing will bless God’s holy name forever”. While we cannot bless God in the sense of giving Him service or physical things He may need, because He’s God. But we can humble ourselves in submission to Him, and kneel before Him as an act of “blessing Him”
PORTUGAL
In Portugal, we experienced “BARAK” in a very unique way in a different kind of Love Feast. It was our 11th and last month in the field, and we ended by hiking El Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage to Santiago, Spain, otherwise known as Saint James, the apostle who was believed to have ministered to the people of Spain in the days of Acts.
I was with a group of people who were casual hikers. We were committed to doing the whole thing, but we knew we were going to be slow. The first couple days were hard as our bodies were adjusting to walking 10-20 miles a day carrying 20 pounds on our backs. We limped through the first 2 days, and we were covered in blisters, stiff, sore, and wondering how on earth we were going to hike the remaining 100 miles to Santiago. Typically, in hostels on the Camino, you are not supposed to stay more than a night. Many of them aren’t equipped to keep people that long because volunteers leave during the day after hikers leave. But we got to this hostel, tired and broken, and basically begged to stay a day to rest. The volunteer there reluctantly agreed, and the next day, we took time to rest, tend to our wounds, get washed up and ready to leave the next day.
The next day, a different set of volunteers came, Ivo and Suzanna. They were confused about why we were there, since people typically don’t stay during the day. We explained that we got permission to stay and why. Ivo teased us about being lazy Americans, but once my friend Whitney showed him her blisters and bruises, his attitude completely changed.
He told us to wait, and he was going to get something that would help. We went to the closet in the living room area and pulled out a basin, rags & towels, lotions, soaps, and bath salts. He filled the basin with warm water and bath salts, placed it on the floor, sat in a chair, and told Whitney to come and sit on the couch in front of him, and he was going to wash her feet.
Whitney was a little bit leery of people touching her feet, but he insisted. I was sitting in the room with them reading my Bible devotional for the day, and we talked together about all sorts of things. He then offered to wash my feet, and the feet everyone else in our group.
Then that night, every single hiker who came into the hostel was offered a foot washing. Ivo cared for every blister, rubbed every toe, and dried everyone’s feet who were there - it ended up being about 15 people. While he was doing this, another volunteer, Suzanna, was making soup for everyone, and in between the feet washing, they would fellowship over warm, hearty soup. And these people were from all over. There was a woman from Brazil, a man from Italy, 2 bikers from Spain, our group of 6 from the US, a couple from Australia and several others, and we all got to share in this moment together with Ivo Suzanna generously and humbly caring for us and blessing us with food and rest, as we fellowshipped and praised God together - BARAK
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Of course, these 5 words are not the only 5 words for praise, and these 5 experiences are not the only 5 ways people praise God. Here are a few more words for praise that appear in the Bible, but less frequently than the other 5. They include jumping, singing, adoration, prayer, clapping, and dancing. This rich Hebrew tradition teaches us that there are nearly unlimited ways to worship God, and we can use all of them as a situation calls for. Worship doesn’t have to be limited to the music in a Sunday morning service, or to the particular church tradition or culture we are used to, but we can be inspired by worship around the world, and we can worship and praise each and every day in different ways, and the spirit moves!
LET’S PRAISE UNTIL THE WHOLE WORLD HEARS
The title of this sermon was inspired by a popular Casting Crowns song by the same name. This song is a joyful declaration of the many ways we can ready ourselves in worship, singing, playing, shouting, declaring and serving in order to spread the good news we know about Jesus.
The most inspiring thing about worship is that of all of the ministries of the church, worship is the only one that endures until eternity. In Revelation 20, we hear that in heaven there is nothing but worship. There is no need for pastors, teaching, evangelists, or servants. All of the pains and woes of life fade away in heaven, so we have no need for people to fill those needs anymore in the perfect presence of God. As a response, we will be compelled to worship God for eternity, overwhelmed by the presence of His glory and the absence of sin, shame, and pain. So when we worship on earth, we are practicing for heaven, and in a sense, through worship, God allows us to experience a sliver of heaven on Earth, giving us a taste of His coming glory - of all tribes, tongues and nations coming together to praise His name.
Our entire time on earth is preparation for that, and this time of Lent is a reminder that we must turn towards what God is doing instead of our own desires and ways. So as we are in this season of Easter preparation, seek God, and praise Him with more than your lips, but with your body, your soul, and your life, until the whole world hears.
Yorumlar