The Great Inversion

This past Sunday our family, along with Becky’s mother and our school teacher, went to worship with our brothers and sisters in Soumdina Po Wayi.  It is normal for us to travel out each week to one of the 18 churches that have been started here in Kabiye land.  However, what doesn’t occur so often is for us to be encouraged in such a powerful way.  So often in our interactions with the churches, we are the ones doing the feeding and encouraging and do not often receive an outpouring of encouragement in return.  This is not to say that our Kabiye brothers and sisters do not encourage us as well, but this past Sunday was special.  Sitting among these wonderful Christian people, we felt a part of their fellowship in a special way.  We were not there just to teach and encourage as “the missionaries”, but we were taught and encouraged as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Halayem, one of the leaders in Soumdina Po Wayi, shared a wonderful message from James and it was so nice to see him teach in such an effective and powerful way.  Also, it was nice to share in the Lord’s Supper with them as we gathered in a circle at the front of the building in a special time of fellowship.  Throughout the worship time there was no sense of pretense or expectation, just a desire to worship God together.  Voices were raised joyfully to God in song and the true nature of their praise was reflected in the smiles that covered their faces.  Dogs were even allowed to come into the building and sack out on the cool dirt floor without being a distraction.  I couldn’t help but think of a blog post I had read about a church in the states that has a pet friendly policy.  I am not arguing for or against a policy such as this, I just know that these people’s hearts were so filled with worship that they did not care about the dogs or the dirt floor or the small pole benches they were sitting on.  All of us, together, were attuned to God and I know that the praise we offered up was reverberating in the throne room of God.  Another blessing was seeing Elijah take part for the first time in worship in the village.  He had read a prayer that had really touched his heart and wanted to read it in Soumdina Po Wayi.  He read, I translated and the people were touched by the sweetness of his heart.  And then if all this were not enough, their hospitality spilled over to us as they fed us bean cakes and shared their blessings with us at the end of the service.  Praises be to God for the way he works in the lives of his people.  God is truly being honored in the lives of the Christians in Soumdina Po Wayi.