Dancing. In a Baptist Church.

February 23, 2014

Events:
-Church worship (No sermon)
-Eyeglasses Finale
-Uno!-Stargazing
Worship this morning brought me to tears. From the moment we walked into the church building, I was attacked by the nearly deafening sound of praises sung to God. Men, women, and children all joined together (from separate sides of the room) in praising God in a language I could not understand. The praise leader would say, "Let os sengh" and instantly the room would be filled with praises- some in English, others in Mamprulli. There was singing, there was dancing. Not a single person in that room (with the exception of three self-conscious team members... *cough-cough Todd, Alex, Brandon *cough-cough) was standing still.
At first, our team stood stationary in a room full of dancing Ghanaian believers, but Grace (wife of Pastor Barnabas) invited me to join her in the middle of the floor to dance in a large circle with others praising Him. I probably looked like a complete idiot to the rest of my team members. But I think that God was watching me dance, watching me sing random vowels as I did not know the words to the Mamprulli song, and smiling. That was the most beautiful worship I think we as humans are capable of. Dancing and singing, looking a fool, yet looking so beautiful in the eyes of God. Eventually some of my other team members joined me in dancing and singing.
God is so undeserving of the excuse we call "worship" in the majority of American churches. He is so beautiful, magnificent, wonderful, all-powerful, forgiving, merciful, gracious, gentle, slow to anger, quick to forgive, loving, and most of all: Indescribably awesome. As in, when I even get a vapor of who He is, I am filled with awe and wonder to the point of where the only place that I feel I can even stand to be is on my knees, bowing at His mercy and love while at the same time praising Him endlessly with genuine and inadequate thanks for loving and nursing back to purity an absolute wretch like me. I am a broken excuse for a follower of Christ at times, each and every breath in my lungs is due to His overwhelming patience and mercy on this sinner. He isn't fair- He is wonderfully forgiving and gracious to me.