A Song for Every Tribe and Nation

Take note of the following elements of yesterday's service:

- "In Christ Alone" by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
- "Be Thou My Vision" of unknown authorship, but an eighth century Irish hymn set to the Irish folk tune "Slane"
- A contemporary version of the prayer known as St. Patrick Breastplate*
- "Build Your Kingdom Here" by Rend Collective
- The testimony of those returning from a short-term missions trip to Ireland
- "By Faith" by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
- "Burn Like A Star" by Rend Collective

The common thread is Ireland. The Gettys, Townend, and Rend Collective all hail from Ireland. St. Patrick was instrumental in bringing Christ to Ireland in the fifth century. The theme of worship was the nation of Ireland. But why?

Revelation offers a picture of worship in heaven. Whenever we sing or praise God in prayer, we join the eternal song and eternal praise of the angels and departed around the throne. Revelation can be difficult to understand, and we can get hung up on trying to figure out every symbol and character in John's vision. If we're not careful, we see it only as a coded message to the Church, and miss all it has to say about worship.

For instance, Revelation 7 shows us a multitude before God's throne "from every nation, tribe, people and language," who cry out "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (7:9-10). I suppose they were crying out something like the following:

"La salvación pertenece a nuestro Dios que está sentado en el trono, y al Cordero." (Spanish)
"उद्धार के लिये हमारे परमेश्वर का जो सिंहासन पर बैठता है के अंतर्गत आता है, और भेड़ के बच्चे के लिए." (Hindi)
"Le salut est à notre Dieu, qui est assis sur le trône, et à l'Agneau." (French)
"Baineann slánú leis ár n-Dia, a shuíonn ar an gcathaoir, agus chun an Uain."(Irish)

Because Revelation tells us that every tribe, nation, people and language will be around God's throne, we must have a view of worship that includes other cultures. You may recall services in the past when we sang "Oceans" in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Or when we had the South American influences of the local band Jarana lead our music. This Sunday, we incorporated the cultural influences of a nation that is not too dissimilar, yet distant and experiencing spiritual darkness. It is important for us to sing their songs, because their cry will be raised to God around the throne.

I'm constantly reminded of Jesus' teaching that the most important commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor (Matt 22:37-39). Worship is loving God and loving  In our global culture, our neighbors include African Americans, descendants of the Sioux nation, Syrian refugees, Mexican immigrants, Chinese, Iraqi, Chilean, etc. Every tribe and nation. When we sing their songs, we accommodate them in our heart, remember them in our prayers, and make a place for them when they walk through our doors.

This week, pray for the people of Ireland. Keep their songs in your heart. And if you'd like to see hundreds of examples of worship from around the world, visit global worship.tumblr.com, curated by one of my professors, Dr. Paul Neeley.

*On Sunday, I mistakenly attributed this prayer to St. Michael instead of St. Patrick. Silly me. I apologize for the confusion.