Everything in Common

The Sun had just begun to set over Jatibonico.  The sky ablaze with colors of orange and red.  The beautiful sunset matched well with the breeze running through the town.  Each of us were headed for different house churches.  As we walked through the dusty streets I began relaying to the worship leader that I loved the song "Te Alabare" which we had sung at church the previous Sunday.  It was a song that I had heard in the States a number of times and knew the words to in Spanish.  He then decided to pull out his guitar and began playing the chords to the song.  We began singing as we walked through the town worshiping God.  It was such a beautiful time.  An unashamed and unhindered love that just overflowed into worshiping of God in song.  How amazing it was to just sing and give praises to God without any sort of thoughts for self.  We continued walking and he taught me another song in Spanish and I just continued to sing with him.

Later that night two other people were leading worship and they began singing a song.  The tune was familiar but I was still struggling to figure out what it was until they began singing, "Here I am to Worship."  I smiled and joined in as those of us who knew English began to sing.  As we continued singing there were several other songs that I knew in English and so we began singing in both Spanish and English for the rest of the time.  It was here that I just started thinking about what it would be like to worship around the throne.  With every nation and tongue singing praises to God.  What an amazing image.  To see the throne of God with each person worshiping God with all they have in their own unique way.  While we were singing words that were unfamiliar to each other, we were singing in the same spirit.  We were all singing for the glory of God and the languages of our hearts were saying the same things despite our inability to communicate with each other.

Throughout the week, I was always struggling to keep up.  I could understand bits and pieces of the conversations and could occasionally offer a sentence or two in Spanish.  The thing is though, that none of that mattered.  Each person, both Cuban and American, were worshiping God using the gifts that they had been given.  Not just in song, but in acts as well.  It was a great portrait of what God has envisioned for his church.  Yes there was a language barrier, but there was something more that connected us.  We were bound by one purpose and one goal.  To always give glory to God.  It was much like the passage in Acts 2 where the early church ate together and shared everything they had and had everything in common.  I now understand what they meant by that.  When the church is focused solely on glorifying God, then they have everything in common, no matter their differences.  May we begin to glorify God with every fiber of our being.  May we overcome our differences by focusing on that which binds us together, our faith in God.  May we learn what it means to have everything in common