Every week it is somewhere different, and every week there are familiar and unfamiliar aspects to our worship. On Sunday we worshipped at a place called Matima Beach. For the first time in four weeks we worshipped in English, so we understood all that was said. The hymns and songs were familiar, and included "Now thank we all our God", "Seek ye first the kingdom of God", and a few others. We used all four lectionary readings, as last week, with selections from Genesis, Psalms, Mark and Romans.
Beyond that there was much that was different. There was no offering.... there was no one to welcome us at the door.... there was no sermon.... everyone participated in some way...it was out of doors.... and one other thing, we knew everyone there!
Saturday we had travelled with Chris and David and Mike and Oriel (an English couple working with SIL) to the Matima Beach Resort. On Sunday, outside our accommodation and looking out over Lake Nyassa (Lake Malawi), the six of us shared in worship together. It was good to reflect on God's goodness, to read God's Word, to pray for family, friends, and for other people and situations that were on our hearts and minds.
God was present, and on Sunday morning we worshipped the God Most High, the One who brought this world into being, the One who has revealed his love to us in Jesus, and the One who through Jesus calls us to "take up our cross and follow him" Mark 8:34.
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