Sometimes, worship reminds me of a tradition I grew up amongst. Serenades. Has any of you given a serenade or received one? Well, we had two kinds of serenades when I was growing up. One was the wealthier kind, when you hire a band of mariachis or a mariachi-quartet and with proper flowers in your hands you go to the window of whoever would be receiving a serenade and around midnight you’d stand in front of the band and start singing (or pretend you do), I’m not particularly familiar with this kind.
The other kind, the one I’m most familiar with, we used to call a “Gallo” or “Rooster”. You’d gather your friends, hopefully at least one of them played half decent guitar, and you embarked in your singing mission. You can serenade a friend in their birthday, your sweetheart or wanna-be-sweetheart, of course valentine’s days was a favorite too… and then the staple: mother’s day.
So you’d stand outside of their window, hope that their bedroom was closer to the window than that of the man of the house, and start singing. A good sign was the lights inside of the house turning on. You’d sing three, four, depending when the lights turned on. When you were done, you hoped your serenaded either thanked you from the window (something like: thank you guys, that was great, see you soon, goodnight), they came to the door just to pick their flowers up, or even better, invited you all in. This is when cookies and a cup of hot chocolate or a cold “limonada” came along. I ate some good cookies this way.
A bad sign, however, was when the man of the house would yell something of the sort of: “hey, clear out, we are trying to sleep”. Not good.
Now this is a confession of love and care, or at least friendship and care public as few. Everyone in the neighborhood found out that you serenaded that person.
Oh, and the hope they didn’t think your music was terrible. They’d all be talking about you next morning.
Now, remember I’m a girl, so I got to stand behind the window most of the time. Oof, thank you Lord! But I knew that whoever was bringing a serenade was putting their heart on the line. You don’t sacrifice a night like that just because... It was because they meant it.
The part when I got to sing more was on mother’s day. You’d fill a couple of cars with friends and you went to all of their mother’s house to sing. I had some long nights like this. Of course, moms wouldn’t normally yell to you “get out of here”…
By now you must be thinking, how in the world is this related to worship?
Well, to me, worship is a bit like serenading.
Here you come, Sunday morning, prepared or not, and in front of all these people, whoever they are, you are gearing to sing that you love God, that you give Him your life, that you trust Him in all and for all.
Yikes!
And even beyond that, oh God please, please, please turn your light on!
Yet God doesn’t react like a sweetheart, sometimes well and sometimes not so much. God reacts more like a mom. He absolutely loves it. Make sure you come with the right attitude, you know, moms know the difference, how much more God! And give it your all.
If God and everyone else are to know about this, you better give it your all. He won’t only give you cookies and a hot chocolate; he’s preparing a seat for you in His house! In His Banquet! (and persecution, too!) And oh you’re not alone, God himself said that the Angels and the entire heavenly Host praised Him and sang:
In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power
and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Revelation 5:12
And even the creation joins in:
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on
the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" Revelation 5:13
So I encourage you. Let’s worship!
Ceci White
2/8/2008
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