One of My Favorite Worship Services

One of the most special worship services I've ever attended was in a small Mexican village called Buenos Aires. It was small in population but not in spiritual impact. There was a seminary training Mexican Christians to take the gospel globally and a faithful church led by a pastor named Benito.

We were there for two main reasons: do some needed upkeep on the seminary and run a VBS at pastor Benito's church. The interesting part was, while we were the ones that came to minister, we found ourselves ministered to.

Pastor Benito's church building was constructed by him piece by piece as they used the local offerings to pay for building supplies. Some rooms didn't yet have roofs and the tile floor in the sanctuary was only half complete, but his work was impressive. You could tell every tile had been laid in worship. It was a beautiful work in progress. Like most places in Buenos Aires, Mexico there was no air conditioning. To make the room bearable in the heat of summer, they had two massive fans blowing from either side of the stage. It was so loud it was hard to hear anything over them.

On Sunday we attended Pastor Benito's church. A man with a guitar got up and sang his heart out. They sang hymns and praise songs from memory in Spanish but we knew the English equivalents enough to join in. We listened to a sermon in Spanish, and I understood about 10% of it. Yet, my heart was so moved by the Holy Spirit in that service that it was as if I had been allowed a glimpse into Heaven.

I love to see how Jesus is worshiped in remote places. Often, when the extras are stripped away, worship can be even sweeter. Because we realize it's not the production values, style of songs, or quality of voice that determines what a good worship service is. It is all about Jesus, the one being worshiped. Let me tell you, worship of Jesus is alive and well across the globe.

Tomorrow we're going to look at Palm Sunday which was one of the first Christian worship services. There are no instruments beyond the voices of the disciples, and the sermon is very short. But the lessons on worship we will get can last for eternity. I hope you will worship with us!