March 19, 2017 - Berea Celebration, Part II

Berea Celebration, Part II

In Exodus, Miriam and other women took tambourines and danced before the Lord.  In 2nd Samuel, David leaped and danced before the Lord.  In Psalm 149 and 150 it talks about praising the Lord with dancing. 

I write this because some Christians are going to read my blogs where I talk about the people of Berea dancing, or the youth jumping in worship services.  What they are doing is quite biblical.  You might not see it in your church, but maybe your church is not as on fire for God as it should be. 

Berea is a church on fire.  Percy and Debbie became pastors of this church 20 years ago, a young couple with a little baby girl.  There were only 25 members at the time and the church seemed doomed.  Lots of prayer and lots of time devoted to discipleship has transformed Berea into a church with around 400 members, a dynamic youth group of several hundred, two full morning services, hundreds participating in church services every night of the week, except Fridays, and many young men becoming leaders of the future.  I mention about the young men, because most churches seem to be dominated by women who take up the slack when the men aren’t there to do the job.  Berea is overflowing with young men with a passion for Christ.

I wrote a blog a few months ago about the yearly celebration that took place in September of 2016.  The combined morning service was packed to overflowing.  It wasn’t a preaching service, rather a praise and worship service.  It was three hours long, but was not boring and dreary.  I cried and I laughed.  I was surprised when it was over that it lasted as long as it did.

Well, the service wasn’t over.  Everybody went home for a few hours and then came back for part 2.  When I arrived that evening, the parking lot was filled with tables and nicely dressed chairs.  It looked like a catered affair, but everything was organized by the church.  It seemed that almost everyone participated in either cooking, serving, or entertaining.

The food was good, though the meat was difficult to cut with plastic cutlery.  There was a steak with rice, yucca, and black-eyed peas.  And later a cake.

While we ate, we were entertained by dancing.  My favorite was a group of girls and ladies who danced to Hebrew music.  In the middle one young man blew the shofar.  I don’t know if they know that Rosh-Hashanah is a week away, but I could imagine the trumpet being sounded to call us home.

I spent three hours talking with a missionary from La Paz, and Pastor Percy and Debbie, and enjoying the food and entertainment.  The fellowship was beautiful. 

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that everything should be done in an orderly way in a worship service. The dancing here was well-done and orderly.  It was meant to enhance the beauty of the music and lead the worshipper into a deeper appreciation of the music.  I left feeling refreshed.  Tired from a busy weekend, but refreshed in my walk with the Lord.

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