We sang this song last evening when we visited a village church. We traveled with the pastor and his family to Turan, a village about 15 minutes from Nazareth. The family has been acquaintances of ours for months. We know them from connections at NV. They are a dear, joyful Arab family who all speak very good English. Rajaa, the second daughter, translated the whole service for us. We always enjoy spending time with the family and were especially blessed to see the community they have been working in for most of their lives.
The experience held several firsts for us:
- first time in a real Arab church that reminds us of home. About 50 people of all ages gathered as a family to sing and hear the message, take communion and drink coffee after the service.
- sharing communion for the first time since arriving in the country. I, B, was especially impacted as I shared this powerful reminder of what Jesus has done for us. Then, as I thought about it farther I became emotional to think about remembering this event in the very land where Jesus, himself, first ate this meal with his first disciples. Wow.
- Arab worship! Philip especially loved to follow the Arab script on the screen and hum along with the excited and passionate melodies. We sang "How Great is our God" translated into Arabic. "Allah" was the name used for God, and Philip couldn't stop singing the song with this addition.
We were very blessed by the dear family who welcomed us to visit, the whole gathering that brought us in with smiles, the beautiful family of God that reminds us again how diverse and wonderful the Kingdom is.
1 comment:
It's jolting for many in our passport country to realize that our brothers and sisters in this part of the world use the name "Allah" when they sing worship songs like this one (which sounds a lot like the opening of the Islamic confession: God is great! J
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