For the glory of the Lord

The seven Americans of Casa Shalom led our first chapel service together this past Friday. It may not sound like a big deal, but it was! Most chapel services are led by a pastor, from a Guatemalan church visiting for a few hours, or a group of Americans visiting for the week (which usually includes a pastor).

From planning to production, everything was on our 14 shoulders. One was in charge of planning and giving a message, another in charge of opening and closing in prayer, a few to pass out materials and sit with the kids during service to make sure all were paying attention, and another for worship. That one fell on me.

Throughout the week, I’ve spent two or three hours daily listening to Spanish music, watching various lyric videos, making lyric sideshows, learning and creating my own hand motions, and practicing two songs on the piano over and over and over again, in Spanish and English. Come Friday morning, I felt confident in the work I put into the two songs with motions, two songs on the piano, and the lyrics onscreen for the kids to follow along with. I was ready!

The keyboard was driven up the hill at 8:30 (for service to start at 10), I got a chance to practice, I got my laptop set up, and I had asked one of the teen boys to help me with the sound system and video. All was going as planned. We turned on music to play over the speakers from my computer as kids came in, yet we couldn’t figure out the video. No matter how many times we re-plugged each wire, changed inputs on the TV screens, or had multiple sets of eyes looking everything over, it still wouldn’t come on.

It all hit me there. All the minutes I’ve spent this week meant nothing if the kids can’t follow along onscreen with me. I tried to pick well known songs, yet I know most of them probably won’t recognize them or be able to sing with me if they don’t know the words or can’t read them on the screens. I was almost at a point of tears, sitting at the back of the chapel just a few minutes before service began.

We joined hands in prayer before it all began. I felt a weight come off me knowing that whatever comes off service is all in God’s hands.

After the opening and prayer, I took center stage. Black TV screens were hanging overhead, so all eyes were focused on me, about 120 of them! The first two songs were those with motions, piano to come at the end of service. Without being drawn to the colorful lyrics coming up on the TV, their heart was fully into mirroring my motions. I felt like it went better not having lyrics onscreen, so the kids would be more involved in dancing and praising through actions. Hey, I might’ve missed a few moves in the two songs and don’t have the greatest rhythm, but I got most of the older boys to dance, so I felt I did pretty good!

The message was shared, and after, each child got a few minutes to write a prayer to God, the message being on how we can talk with God. I put on a few quiet worship songs to set the mood and fill the dead air, then got up on stage to adjust the mic, the volume, and the sheet music for my two piano songs. Those, I really wish we could’ve had the lyrics up for. I’ve been coughing for the past few days and wasn’t confident in my singing strength. The piano wasn’t hooked up correctly, so we were having to use a microphone as close as we could to the piano speakers. We realized we ran long, and didn’t have time to squeeze in another song (or two) before service ended. I was saved from playing the piano this week, but I’m looking forward to playing at our next service(s).

The lyrics might’ve not shown up during my dance performances, but the attention was focused on me and following my motions. The lyrics wouldn’t show up for the piano segment, nor would the piano hook up correctly, and as my voice quickly declined, the time was spent elsewhere allowing the children to write out their prayers to God.

The service might not have gone the way that I expected it to, but just like always, God proves He is good and brings the best out of anything He calls upon us. Each of the 7 of us used our (sometimes limited) strengths, talents, and abilities to share a portion of the kingdom, and God was truly there shining through us all.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,”

Colossians 3:23

(I thought this verse was fitting, and it also lined up with the date!)