African Worship...Consume Me

Yesterday I was sitting in worship when we sang these words, "my heart and my soul...I give you control...consume me from the inside out, Lord."  It's not unusual for us to sing songs and not really give thought to what we are singing.  It's not something we are proud of (to sing without thinking about what we are actually saying), but the reality is that we often come into worship preoccupied.

Preoccupied.

Sometimes we are preoccupied with what happened the week before, what is going to happen in the upcoming week, what we are going to eat for dinner, who is playing football, whether our hair is sticking up, whether we look nice enough, what our neighbor is doing, whose baby is crying in the back of the church, how we would love a Medium Pumpkin Coffee cream only from Dunkin (ok...so some things can't be helped).  The bottom line is far too often we come into worship "preoccupied," and we forget who we are there for and just how powerful the words we are singing really are.

"My heart and my soul.  I give you control.  CONSUME me."  Two weeks ago, I found myself surrounded by people who had been consumed by the Jesus that I have given my life to, but often find myself too preoccupied to fully worship.  Visiting a small church in Mozambique, Africa, I was reminded of what it looks like to truly be consumed by this Jesus that we say we would stake our lives on.

As we pulled up our little bus that day, and unloaded our team, we quickly found ourselves walking on a dirt path.  I was walking next to a Pastor/Leader friend from South Africa, who was on the 10 day journey with us.  I turned to him and said, "Simba...what is your biggest challenge in ministry?"  He thought for a minute and replied, "Wheelbarrow Christians.  You know, they get in your wheelbarrow and want you to push them to some great place, so you do.  And then when you come back, they are still in the same place waiting to be pushed again."  I smiled and said to him, "We have that very same problem in America too!"

As we neared the little church that day, we heard this incredible sound.  It was the sound of voices singing in the most amazing way.  The people were welcoming us to their church.  They walked with us the rest of the way in, seated us in the front of the church, and continued to sing their hearts out.  I am not sure that I have ever heard a sound that has stuck with me that way.  The sounds continued for the majority of the morning.  Women, children, young adults, teenagers, toddlers, men, all singing praises to this Jesus that we have come to love.  It was worship unrestrained.  It was the result of a consumed life.

The singing only stopped that day long enough for me to preach.  And then it started again.  It was their act of worship.  It was a response to the one who had consumed their life.  That day I watched as those very same people sang and danced down the aisles when it was time to give their offering.  Children as young as 1 years old gave as though they understood who they were giving too and were responding out of gratitude for all that God had done.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have watched take place in a long time.

I don't want to be preoccupied when I come to worship.  I don't want someone to push me in a wheelbarrow and believe that is enough.  I want to be consumed.  I want God to have such a control over my life that my only response can be to sing and to dance, completely unrestrained.  I don't want to be preoccupied anymore.

Consume me...