DAY 10 AM: The Long Way Home (PART 1)…

30 Minutes.  That’s only half an hour.  HALF AN HOUR!  That is the exact amount of time I spent outside today before I realized I had forgotten sunscreen.  It is the ONLY time I spent outside this entire time without sunscreen.  It also happens to be the only time this week I pulled my shirt sleeves up over my shoulders.

yep.

BRIGHT red.  Just cause Lukas and I wanted to trying playing catch with a mango from the roof to the field.  sigh.

I, for one, am ready to go.  Time to go have a baby!  At the same time, it is still sad to leave a place you are just starting to get a feel for.  I am more than excited about the opportunity for long term relationship with Haiti Arise, not only as a church but as a student ministry as well.  Moms and Dads, this is our “home” for the foreseeable future.  We want to continue to build relationships, and the bond between ministries.  We’ll be looking to open things to high school students again in February break of 2013.

As we leave this morning, I wanted to expand a bit on my ramblings the other day about worship in churches outside our own.  I’ll break this up over two posts over the course of the day, so check back later around noon-ish for the second half.

Like I said in Sunday’s Post, what it boils down to for me, is an understanding of the Joy of the Lord.  Perhaps the best thing do would be to have Lorn follow up with some thoughts on this as well, but for the time being, let’s see how far down the rabbit trail I can get.

The main idea behind my thought from earlier in the week was this:

I think maybe what we should be saying, rather than “church should be like that” in the sense of all the movement and noise, is rather, “the church should always have a joy in the Lord like that.”

It is always easy when abroad (sometimes even the next town, but more noticeable in different countries) to find thing is churches we visit that we see as being “better” or in some way, more honest or truthful in the hearts and attitudes of the people.  The challenge, in the midst of that, is to actually be a catalyst for change when we return home.  I have no patience for those who want to gallivant around happily and find things to complain about, only to come home and be completely disconnected from effecting any change, even in their own lives, and in their own approach to worship, simply because it wasn’t the way it was.

If, however, we are open to seeing areas we need to grow or be challenged in, and then to be part of the change process, and allow our own hearts to be changed along the way… then we’re talking!

The way we express ourselves is going to be different from one culture to the next, and to suggest that each one should be the same as the next is actually counter-productive.  God created us each differently and unique because each of those small nuances can bring honor and blessing to Him.  In that sense I don’t think the comparison game is fair, or appropriate.  The cultural context of Haiti is going to be different from the cultural context of rural China, which will be different from that of Ghana, Mongolia, Turkey, and Northern Vietnam.  While in each context you may find a deep understanding of the joy of the Lord in all circumstances, and–as Shaquille put it–a people who “have nothing, and yet have everything”, they will not all worship in the same exact manner.

And that’s fantastic!  So from that, we shouldn’t feel as though we have to mimic the same behaviours back home in Saskatoon.  If we want to dance, we should feel the freedom to dance, and having the courage the shuffle the feet from side to side from time to time is absolutely something we can grow in.  There are times that I feel like bouncing a little more than I actually do.

But what we should share with all our brothers and sisters in Christ around the globe is a deep understanding of what it means to find our sustenance, our hope, our faith, our life, and our daily understanding in the person of Jesus Christ.  And that shouldn’t be something we mimic, but something we commit to discovering for ourselves.  In this, our affluent North American culture can work against us.  But we have to commit to battling against that independence and apathy, and recognizing that we are in desperate need of God, and that we find our everything–tou bagay–in Him and Him alone.

(To be continued… check back around noon.)