“Umuzungu Dancing”

My team has been in Rwanda for about 3 days and it has been nothing short of extraordinary. In just 3 days we’ve experienced new ways of worship, made new friends, tried to speak Kinyarwandan (thankfully, our new friends are experts at practicing grace), and have drank an abundance of excellent coffee. I have loved every minute of this trip so far, but my favorite moment so far is how Rwanda has opened up my heart to worship.

In my Christian life I’ve been very strict about the way in which I worship. At church back home I don’t sing, I don’t close my eyes, I don’t raise my hands- I tap my foot and occasionally clap softly to the beat; I tap my foot and clap softly because I’m worried about how others will think of the way I worship. For the majority of my Christian life I’ve been okay with that until I went to church in Rwanda and realized I was terribly out of place and out of touch with the Holy Spirit when I stand during worship. Not only was I terribly out of place, I realized that I have been guilty of stiff-arming the Holy Spirit during that precious time.

In Rwanda the way they worship is authentic, real, and Holy Spirit filled. They sing, they dance, they clap, they jump, they cry, and they connect with God. Worship here is about you and God and no one else, and here’s the kicker- no one cares how you worship. Rwanda has a beautiful way of stripping away all of your insecurities and teaching you how to dance, however graceless it may be. Today I danced my little “umuzungu” (white person) heart out. I didn’t understand the language and I didn’t know the moves, but today I danced and the Holy Spirit was dancing too.

When I get back to Savannah I hope to carry with me the connection to worship I made here. I may not be storming the stage back home, but the Holy Spirit will be moving.

Murakoze cyane,

Hannah