Teaching Worship

After 3 days of discussion about the nature of worship, I found myself with a conundrum. It seemed that the tribal culture from which these students had come did not have a sense of awe. At least in the limited time I had with them, I struggled to find a point in their context on which I could connect the notion that in the presence of God we not only exult and rejoice (expressions of praise) but we also need to express humility. During the night Wednesday, the idea hit me: The ancient kings demanded their subjects to enter the royal presence on their hands and knees. So Fri morning (no class on Thur), I asked Raju to act the part of King Nebuchadnezzar and I became his lowly subject wishing to gain audience (they always responded well to my getting on the floor). So the pic above shows me humbly seeking audience with the great king.

Below, I had to come up for a little while to explain the significance of the gesture (and also to clear the blood out of my head!). [editorial comment: In our me-centered society, we forget or easily ignore the fact that any/every time we meet with the followers of Christ we choose to enter the presence of the King of all Kings. These church gatherings are not about us. We gather to come into the King's presence. I'm not suggesting that everyone in every society must get on their hands and knees and hold their faces to the ground during church. But each society has some culturally appropriate manner of demonstrating submission to a higher authority. But in a society such as North America/Western Europe where self is the highest authority we face a real conundrum: How can we express submission to a higher authority when we recognize no higher authority than self?] Well, enough of that sermon! Back to Jodhpur.
Following my demonstration and explanation, we spent time (below) silently worshiping God for his inate qualities--for Who He Is.
Some more teaching about something. In the background, you can see a white board. They had it on grounds somewhere but never used it. When I asked if we could buy one, they admitted to having this. So--teacher that I am--we dragged it out and put it to good use!
Below: The orphanage children at prayer time. Each afternoon, when they arrive home from school, they spend some time in group prayer. Here you can see that Sujana and Joseph, their supervisors, were already implementing the approach to prayer that I had suggested just that morning. Now that does a teacher's heart good!