Waking up on my flight from Addis to Paris, I heard myself singing ''Receive my gratitude, Jesus, my gratitude for the cross, my gratitude Jesus...'' (in English 'I'm forever grateful to you', literally
'I am eternally grateful to You, I am eternally grateful for the cross, I am eternally grateful that You came to seek and save the lost'); and naturally I let myself go into praise, in silence. After all, why deprive ourselves of praise simply because we are at a high altitude? Besides, in the Bible, high altitudes tend to draw our attention to the One who is Most High, the One who is lifted up and exalted, and who seemed to love to meet His own on the mountains.
But the beauty of the new covenant is
that there is no longer a single place where men should go to meet God. He has made the whole world an altar, and better still, He has made our hearts His altar and calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore all that is required for worship is that we be present, and our hearts can and indeed should be constantly engaged in worshipping the Lord in every place. 'Receive my thanks….'
And what a joy to worship Him under different skies and among foreign peoples; to worship Him immersed in the spectacular beauty of the natural landscape of New Zealand, in the Yoruba language in Salvador da Bahia among the descendants of those forcibly taken from my homeland centuries ago as slaves and who still maintain today the Yoruba cosmogony according to which creation began with the Yoruba people whose founder descended from heaven (don't worry, no syncretism). What a joy to praise God in the crowded streets of Shanghai and to take prayer walks in the serenity of Stockholm.
Furthermore, how can one describe the excitement of being able to praise Him in Addis Ababa, to call upon the name of the Lord beneath the skies of Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world, where fasting remains a public activity? Yes, what excitement, as you worship God, to imagine the centuries of praise, the extraordinary volume of prayers raised over the generations in this land in the name of Jesus; a land that has managed to maintain its Christian faith unlike other ancient Christian lands in North Africa. And in every place, from Beijing to Paris, from Colombo to Christchurch, from Dakar to Dubai, always the same extraordinary sense of God's presence, greatness, goodness, and mercy.
Certainly, traveling sharpens our perception of God's omnipresence. What a shame, then, that we can travel and leave the Bible at home, our prayer life at home, and our worship songs on a CD in our living room until we return to 'normal' life. It's a missed opportunity to celebrate Jesus in the flood of Madrid and the grayness of Brussels, an opportunity to begin exploring the ramifications of the simple fact that the earth belongs to the Lord and everything in it.
Traveling sharpens your perception of God's omnipotence as you contemplate the diversity of His works in nature, people, and nations. All are under His gaze; everything that has been made has been made for Him, through Him, and by Him. And it is this wonderful Being, this God, who invites me into relationship with Him. How can I not declare wholeheartedly, 'I am eternally grateful for the cross...'? Truly, to travel is to worship!
God of all the earth, wherever we are, we call upon you. And here is my favorite excerpt from this article: “Certainly, traveling sharpens our perception of God’s omnipresence. What a shame, then, that we can travel and leave the Bible at home, our prayer life at home, and the songs of praise on a CD in the living room, while we return to normal life. It is to miss the opportunity to celebrate Jesus in the flood of Madrid and in the grayness of Brussels, the opportunity to begin to explore the ramifications of this simple fact, that the earth belongs to the Lord and all that is in it.”