True Worship This Morning at Easter Church Service

After rounding at the hospital, Jodi and I have been waiting for the opportunity to wear our new Easter dresses made for us here in Nalerigu, Ghana by a godly woman named Joyce. She is the wife of Yissa, who prepares our food. Joyce has her own sewing shop with beautifully-colored native fabrics available at a nearby mud-structured shop. Over a week ago, Jodi and I browsed through the fabrics and made selections for the perfect Easter dress to wear here. I chose fabric that is mainly white with some dark green and lavender colors on it. Jodi chose a darker purple with red and white on it.

So, after work today, yes, we looked African! We walked in our festive dresses to Yissa's house to meet him, his wife Joyce (the seamstress), and their two daughters for church at Second Baptist. Yissa walked us to church and we saw our other friend named Joyce (the nurse who runs clinic), who was sitting nearby. Dr. Dunn kept writing in his emails during his last trip a few weeks prior to ours that the worship at Second Baptist was tremendous and not quite like the stagnant worship we have at home.

Well, imagine an Easter service here!!!! I am telling you the worship was through the roof! Voices were singing louder than I have heard here and everybody was dancing for most every song whether in a circle up at the front or in the aisles or by their seats. Most were in Mampruli and some were in English. I loved it when we sang "Trading My Sorrows." It's an uplifting and lively worship song about laying down our sorrow, sickness, and pain and instead receiving the joy of the Lord and having the attitude of "yes, Lord!" As I have praised Him before, He is a capable God! Just this morning I saw a woman saved and rejoiced in it here with everyone else at the Easter service. The Ghanaians' smiles are so big and they were using them for praise.

The sermon was from Luke 24 and Mark 16 about the resurrection and how Mary Magdelene and Mary, mother of James, came to annoint Jesus' body for burial. These two women were probably wondering how they could roll away the huge stone that blocked the tomb. The great thing is they did not have to. An angel had already done it for them. They saw the angel sitting inside the empty tomb, who immediately told them not to be afraid and that Jesus was risen and was on His way to the Galilee to meet Peter. The coolest thing was that they went in the morning at sunrise so eager to properly annoint Jesus' body. According to Jewish practice, the sabbath was the day before (from sunset Friday through sunset Saturday), so they could not go to the tomb during that time to annoint Jesus' body. On the sabbath, they were not allowed to work or walk beyond a very short distance, much less travel to see His body. God clearly foreknew the timing of the sabbath as part of His plan for Jesus' crucifixion on Friday (prior to the start of the sabbath) to the discovery of the empty tomb on Sunday morning (following the sabbath). So, of course, it was no coincidence that on the 3rd day they found the empty tomb. Resurrection morning just simply had to wait, according to custom, until the sabbath had ended. God spoke to me, and I think to everyone else, in the service today.

What a glorious Easter! I am so thankful for the gift of salvation and for the honor of seeing someone else receive salvation today!