Warning:
Church speak ahead!
Our group of five people went to Thailand to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ there.
//end church speak
Basically, our little group was invited by a missionary family that we know and support to come on a short term mission trip to Thailand. We would just be working with a local church's youth group and visiting other Christians in Bangkok.
This allowed us to look at how other people worship.
Something that really stuck with me was how some of the other Christians worshiped. It wasn't that we could understand them -- in fact, they were singing a Psalm, something that I've never done -- but the emotion that came through was so beautiful.
The family that was worshiping had been through things that I've never dreamed of. Yet when they sang, they sang about how good God was and they conveyed the belief in their hearts into tangible emotions. There was an undeniable joy in their faces as they raised their hands to heaven and praised God.
The greatest joy comes through the greatest trials. They had great joy and they were beautiful.
The Thai church was different as well. It was there that I remembered that worship is work. They worked to worship. It wasn't just a sing-along, something that I've noticed I do a lot. It was passionate, it was let us praise our God because He is good, it had energy, it had life, it was wonderful.
There were some songs we recognized and others we didn't. During the youth camp, we struggled to learn "This is the Day" in Thai. I don't remember anything but the joy that came with being able to sing with them in their language. It was the day that the Lord had made, and we rejoiced and were glad. Upon further thought, it was work -- especially as I struggled to stumble through the unfamiliar words and sounds -- but there was a joy in the work.
That's what worship is. It's work, but there is an overwhelming, beautiful joy in the work.
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