Uganda Update Day 5

It's been quite a ride so far.  Saturday, after a plane flight filled with comedy (Addis Ababa airport), connections (met 2 mission teams and a group of seminary students from London on their way to teach preaching at a Bible college in Kampala) and very little sleep I landed at Entebbe/Kampala.  The ride through the city to the very rural outskirts of town (Wakiso) was a thrill a second, and at the end of it, I met Lydia!  After spending a bit of time at the orphanage, Bonnie and I returned to our hotel and had dinner with new friends, Ian and Mindy (also on an adoption trip) and the Vargas.   Sunday, I had the privilege of worshiping with a small church at the orphanage from which we are adopting.  There was a wonderful spirit of worship and adoration for our great God in that little building, and they even invited me to sing 2 songs for them.  I sang "When I Think About the Lord" (because every time you say or sing 'Hallelujah', everyone shouts 'Amen!') and "Jesus Messiah."  Very few worshipers there spoke English, but after the music, the pastor translated some of the lyrics and exclaimed that he loves it when people sing about the greatness of Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross.  Tuesday was our court hearing, and it was definitely different from any court experience I've had in the US.  At the end, we were granted custody by the judge and now we await a formal reading of the ruling next week.  Today, we travelled to the place where our girl was originally abandoned at 8 months of age, and the story is too hard to tell (despite the fact I need to remain somewhat guarded about the details of her case until it is complete).  However, one of the richest blessings today came when we saw the faces of those who had helped to rescue her and who have thought she died from the abusive treatment she endured.  She was passed around from person to person with smiles and tears shared by all.  Definitely a time for worship.

On our way

I'm in Dulles Airport in Washington DC; about to board the flight that will carry me to meet my wife (who travelled a day ahead of me) and our soon-to-be daughter. What an amazing gift this journey is! God has blessed us with so much over the past year of prayer and preparation, and our greatest blessings have come through our family and friends. The ways in which you have loved and supported us have been acts of love, compassion and worship. You have put "hands and feet" on the love of God in Christ and you have helped us live out the idea that real love is more than words or talk...love does. According to Bob Goff, "it becomes clear that we need to stop plotting the course and instead just land the plane on our plans to make a difference by getting to the 'do' part of faith. That's because love is never stationary. In the end, love doesn't just keep thinking about it or planning for it. Simply put: love does.". (Goff, p. xvi)

Source list:
Goff, Bob. "Love Does", Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012.

Right Worship --- Right Action

One of the most critical connections in our worship must be between our Orthodoxy (right beliefs) and our Orthopraxy (right actions).  We are certainly called to believe the right things about God, and our worship must be fueled by the truth of Scripture, but in order for the way we respond t to be truly worship, our belief must ultimately lead to obedience.  “Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience.  If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.  To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.”  (Foster, p. 173)  God is clear throughout Scripture that true religion cares for the poor and oppressed, and worship that is honored by God is compassionate toward the widow and the orphan.  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  (James 1:27)  Throughout the prophetic books of the Old Testament, it is often the response of Israel to the poor among them that stood as a testimony to the integrity of their worship and the true attitude of their hearts toward God (Isaiah 58 is a prime example of a time when Israel had turned away from God as evidenced by turning away from fellow countrymen).  So, why should we expect this to cease as a sign of authentic worship for New Testament believers?  Granted, only God can see into the hearts of men and women, but it seems evident from Scripture and from the call to sanctification in the life of the Christian believer that there should be outward signs of grace and mercy in the lives of those who are committed to Jesus Christ.  Therefore, faithful and authentic worship in the life of a believer and in the communal life of a congregation must be marked by more than good theology or even passionate and heartfelt singing and sweet times of fellowship.  Real worship will also be evidenced by compassion and acts of mercy in the lives of the most vulnerable and needy members of the congregation and the greater community.

Second, it is vital that our worship, both individually and as a community, to come before God with repentant hearts.  The ideas of humility, submission and surrender before God did not go out of fashion with the advent of the New Covenant.  Instead, the incredible act of mercy and unmerited favor poured out upon an undeserving world through Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary points to the need for worshipers concerned with honesty and integrity to come to God in meekness and reverence.  It is the heart that truly understands the message of the gospel that comes before the Lord with contrition and remorse for sin.  Only someone who has yet to grasp the depth of the cross might come before God flippantly or irreverently.  Additionally, it is the very call of the prophets as the point to the holiness of God that should redirect our sinful hearts to careful self-examination and repentance.  Does this mean that God intends to “rub our face” in our sinfulness?  By no means!  We have been saved in order that we might glorify him for his mercy and favor!  So then, while repentance and remorse are definitely the starting point for our worship of God, our relationship with him does not stop there.  Instead, it is only when our hearts are truly humbled and submitted to God that we become bendable to his will and moldable to his purposes.  It is through continual repentance that we keep from “hardening our hearts” (Psalm 95) and as we repent and turn toward God, there is “rejoicing in the presence of the angels.”  God celebrates when we repent, and we celebrate in the light of his mercy and grace.   “This was the driving message of both the major and minor prophets.  It is still God’s message today, and it is a matter of utmost importance.  God so desperately wants relationship with us.  He wants to dwell with us.  And He wants our worship.  But He will never, ever, ever accept our worship unless and until we examine ourselves, see our sin in Technicolor, and confess it to God.”  (Whaley, p. 221)

A prophetic call to holiness and acts of mercy are essential to the worship-life of individuals and believing communities.  This is how we connect the essential Truth of our faith with action, and letting the “rubber meet the road” in the areas of faith, worship and compassion. 

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Source list:

Foster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline, The Path To Spiritual Growth.  San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins Publishers, 1978.

Whaley, Vernon M. Called to Worship, The Biblical Foundations of Our Response to God’s Call.  Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007.

The HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Zondervan Publishing House.