Hands-on Worship!

October 10th 2007

'Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done' (Psalm 105:1 & 1 Chronicles 16:8)

King David wrote this psalm to celebrate the bringing of the Ark to Jerusalem. The Ark represented the presence of God dwelling among his people. He demonstrated the reality we have as believers, God dwelling with us! Nothing could stem the flow of David's praise, not even the scorn of his own wife. David knew that the Lord was with him, and that all the nations would see the power of God.

His thanks poured out in this beautiful command to all God's people; give thanks, call on him and make him known. In this one verse, the Hebrew root word for hand, yad, is used twice.

'Yadah the Lord' It can literally mean shoot an arrow of thanks, praise, confession of his greatness. Use your hand to aim your praise at the one who deserves it. Lift your hands to the Lord.

'yada among the nations what he has done' It means to know by experience. Know and then demonstrate with your own hands what the Lord has done. Experience it and let others know by experience. Continue to demonstrate his deeds. This is worship. We imitate Christ. We show his glory by our acts of faith.

Worship cannot be shut inside four walls, it has to be lived out as we offer our bodies to him as our spiritual act of worship. We are his body, his hands and his feet. Godfrey Birtill (who sang on the Sunday morning at the Celebration) has a song, 'Just one touch from the King changes everything'. We see it demonstrated in scripture again and again. The King touches people through us. We are his yad as we allow his compassion to fill us.

The second verse of the psalm exhorts us 'Sing to him'. The Hebrew word is shiyr, and the connotation is not just of singing, but of travelling and singing, like a minstrel. One of my treasured memories of the Celebration was going into town together one afternoon. I looked behind me and there were hundreds of worshippers walking with one purpose, to give God the glory in the town centre. We were fulfilling the command to shiyr, to travel and sing to him.

Let's continue this pilgrimage into the nations of the world. I have just returned from China where for some precious moments I spent time with some of the poorest people in the nation. They live on the streets. Some may well lose hands or feet this winter to frostbite. They don't know where their next meal is coming from. Yet because someone dared to respond to the uncomfortable impulse of the compassion of Christ, a few of them are now believers. I joined them as they worshipped, and saw their joy.

Pilgrimage is costly. Many of us responded in the Celebration to go anywhere and do anything for the Lord. My co-worker in China told me the story of William Border. He wanted Muslims to hear the good news, and so headed for Cairo in the 1920s. Before he went he gave away his fortune of $32, 000, 000. He wrote in his bible 'No reserves'. After landing in Cairo he wrote in his bible 'No retreats'. He then got sick and died fourteen days later. The night before he died he made one last entry in his bible, 'No regrets'. He was 23 or 24 years old when he died.

In our celebration of the victory of Jesus we must not lose sight of the Cross. It was there that the victory was won. He calls us to take up our cross daily and follow him. We can yada the Lord in the painful times as well as the times when we are very aware of his power. The enemy often works, not through direct attack, but through discouragement and dispersal. The bible exhorts us not to give up meeting together. Let's get together whenever we can and worship Jesus. He wants to demonstrate his kingdom rule through us, even through our hands, so let us shiyr on the streets where we live, and out into the nations where he leads us.

Watch the website for news of 'Celebration Summer' 2008. It will be based in Wales and our prayer is that it will help people develop in worship and kingdom ministry.

Gail Dixon