Haiti Experience Part 2 - Heart of Worship

One of my team mate said something during the mission trip that stuck with me the whole time. She said, every time I come to Haiti, I think I'm giving something to the Haitian people, but the truth is, they've given me so much more. It's incredible how true this is. It's funny when I told people around me that I was heading to Haiti for a medical mission trip, the comments I often got were: "wow, it's so amazing that you are doing this", or "you are such a nice person", or "it's so good that you are helping the Haitian people"... After a while, I've even got it stuck in my own head that I'm heading to Haiti to help the people there. Yes, maybe it's true that we as a team helped people physically, but the Haitian people have given me so much more emotionally and spiritually than I could've ever imagined. I've learned so much from them, and I've experienced so much because of them... I've been debating how I want to write my next few Haiti blogs, I think this would be a good start, I think I want to share with you some of the things I learned for Haitians. So here it goes...this is to learning about the true meaning of worship.

On our second day in Haiti, we started the day attending church service with Haitians. The entire service was in Creole, so I didn't understand a word they were saying. Yet, I felt the presence of God is vividly. The Haitians truly understood the meaning of worship. Their worship was simple, they didn't have any of the fancy musical instruments we have. They didn't have power point on the wall or hymn books in their hands. All they had was their voice and a microphone. Yet, everyone sang with such passion and joy, they sang with their whole heart and mind. They sang with undeniable faith and hope. Their voice and their passion shook me from within. It says in Hebrews,

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrew 12:29-30)

When I think about this verse, the Haitian worship really comes to mind. It is truly an example of worshiping in reverence and in awe. It's funny in North America we have all our fancy equipments and gadgets that we use during our worship time, yet how many people are just mouthing the words along, and their mind is completely preoccupied with something else. We place so much emphasizes on the appearance of our worships and our prayers, but the truth of the matter is, worship is where the heart is. God doesn't care how beautifully we sing or how wonderful the music is, God cares what's in our heart. I mean, isn't that what worship is all about? Praising and singing to the Lord with our all.

 

This is a beautiful picture of an elderly Haitian man heading to church.  

During the church service, we had the opportunity to take kids from the orphanage and kids with disabilities to the service with us. I had next to me Owen, who has severe cerebral palsy. It's hard to tell exactly how much he understood from the service, but what I do know is the joy on his face when the music started. His laughter rang through the music, and he clapped to the rhythm of the songs so hard and with such excitement. It was beautiful to watch him. In Ephesians, Paul reminded us to

"Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:19) 

I can't help but wonder if this is what Paul meant. Owen's worship to the Lord really was the most beautiful music, it was music from his heart.

Owen laughing to the music

Few nights after, I had a chance to join in an Haitian devotion. It is a daily worship led by one of our Haitian interpreter in the recovery room after surgery. All the patients and their family members are invited to join. Often, that small recovery room is crowded with people wanting to worship the Lord. This was too a very simple worship, just one guitar. Yet the room shook with their passion. I could feel the holy spirit filling the room, I was so thankful to be a part of it, their music brought tears to my eyes.

Worship in the recovery room one night

The last thing I wanted to share in this blog is my time with a a boy named Michael. He was sweet teenage boy with  a bone infection. One day, I had an opportunity to sit with him just to chat. So we sat on his little bed and he took out his bible and his song book to show me. I pointed to one of the songs in the song book and I asked him to sing it for me. He said okay and he began to sing this beautiful song. He sang the song with such genuine faith, with such burning hope, and with such certainty of his Savior...After he finished, I hugged him and told him he sang the song so beautifully. He smiled at me and said, I sing because I love Jesus! What he said really struck me, yes, isn't this the true heart of worship? To sing and dance with our all because we love Jesus?