The Joyful Noise

Yesterday was a celebration called the color festival. It is interesting how this celebration is the same time of our celebration of the Resurrection. They call this festival Holi. Just as we celebrate Holy week for the death and resurrection of Christ. I did a little research on this festival to gain some understanding.  In reading about this day and trying to understand more I became perplexed at the concepts of this worship. 

Legends

The foremost is the legend of demon King Hiranyakashyap who demanded everybody in his kingdom to worship him but his pious son, Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap wanted his son to be killed. He asked his sister Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap as Holika had a boon which made he immune to fire. Story goes that Prahlad was saved by lord himself for his extreme devotion and evil minded Holika was burnt to ashes, for her boon worked only when she entered the fire alone.

In South India, people worship Kaamadeva- the god of love and passion for his extreme sacrifice. According to a legend, Kaamadeva shot his powerful love arrow on Lord Shiva to revoke his interest in the worldly affairs in the interest of the earth. However, Lord Shiva was enraged as he was in deep mediation and opened his third eye which reduced Kaamadeva to ashes. Though, later on the request of Rati, Kaamadeva's wife, Shiva was pleased to restore him back.

Honestly it does not make sense to me, but I was shocked to find out about how they celebrate someone not dying. And in South Asia a god considered to be loving and compassionate. 

So around 11 pm on this night I heard worship. There were instruments and loud singing coming from somewhere near our home. I assumed it was the holi festival going on and celebrating the idols. Wouldn't you?

I bet you are wondering at this point why this blog is titled The Joyful Noise. Well, at this point I opened the window to hear the sounds more clearly. The sound was so sweet to my ear and heart. It was worship to the True Living God, and this was the song of praise to the King.

With Grateful Heart Hymn

With grateful heart my thanks I bring,
Before the great Thy praise I sing;
I worship in Thy holy place
And praise Thee for Thy truth and grace;
For truth and grace together shine
In Thy most holy Word divine,
In Thy most holy Word divine.

I cried to Thee and Thou didst save,
Thy Word of grace new courage gave;
The kings of earth shall thank Thee, Lord,
For they have heard Thy wondrous Word;
Yea, they shall come with songs of praise,
For great and glorious are Thy ways,
For great and glorious are Thy ways.

O Lord, enthroned in glory bright,
Thou reignest in the heavenly height;
The proud in vain Thy favor seek,
But Thou hast mercy for the meek;
Through trouble though my pathway be,
Thou wilt retrieve and strengthen me,
Thou wilt retrieve and strengthen me.

Thou wilt stretch forth Thy mighty arm
To save me when my foes alarm;
The work Thou hast for me begun
Shall by Thy grace be fully done;
Forever mercy dwells with Thee;
O Lord, my Maker, think on me,
O Lord, my Maker, think on me
Source: http://www.hymns.me.uk/with-grateful-heart-hymn.htm

It was convicting and encouraging to hear those voices praising the King at 11 pm. What boldness and courage to worship so clearly and loudly when all else is silent. There was such a desire to just go walk and find them and worship with them. However, we have been heavily encouraged to not go out at night. So, I worshiped with them from the window. God is at work here, and things are not always as they seem.

Yea, they shall come with songs of praise,
For great and glorious are Thy ways,

Psalm 100:1 and 2
Make a joyful noise to the LORD , all the earth!
Serve the LORD with Gladness! Come into his presence with singing. 

Summary of 4 Sun Risings

Sunrise in India

Well, here we are. We are in South Asia, and beginning to do life here. So far we are learning tons from Mackey who is out amazing mentor right now. She is 70 and has lived in India for 5 years. She has been super encouraging, but has not hesitated to push us to do things on our own. There are a lot more things to remember to do here, and its obviously difficult directionally in getting places, especially with the language barrier. However, we are beginning to learn where we are through land marks. 

So, We arrived at about 12:30 am on Thursday the 7th, and made it to our new home at at 3:30am. The next morning I was up at about 6 am ready to go. So Wednesday we spent some time going to the grocery store and getting acquainted with our new city. We walked around about 3 miles to the grocery store. Which is actually kind of like an Indian version of Wal-Mart. They even had some things that said great value. We will pretty much be able to get everything we will need there. That afternoon we rested a while. Friday morning I woke up at about 4:30 am ready to go once again. On Friday we were able to spend time in the aftercare center. Unfortunately our translator was not able to go with us on that day, but we went anyway. Currently 25 women live there that were previously CSW's, and also 15 little boys that had been rescued from begging traffickers. It was so exciting for me to finally get to see those faces and meet those souls. Oh, what awesome things can King can do in these souls. When we arrived most of them came toward us, and wanted to hold our hand. We shared what we could, but we didn't get to spend much time there because we could not really communicate with them. They seemed glad we were there. I'm sad I will only get to go there for a few hours a week. We are only able to get a translator on Tuesday and Friday. We can only go for 1.5 hours in the afternoons, but we are praying that God will provide a way for me to spend some more time there. On Tuesday we will be going back to do a lesson with them and share a B-story with them. On Saturday we went to this touristy street. We were able to get some Indian clothes to be able to fit into the culture better. Mackey took us to lunch at a restaurant that was yummy. It was kind of an overwhelming place. So many people. So many lives. So many souls. So, today, Sunday, we were able to go to this church and meet two other americans doing an internship with a "company" here. They are very encouraging and have been here about 2 months. We were also able to meet with some partners about the work we will be doing in the slums. This is where we will be spending a good bit of time until more develops with the aftercare center. We will go here Monday-Friday. There are two stitching classes one in the morning and one in the evening. There is also a young girls class in the afternoons for young girls that are at high risk. We will go to the classes for the first time tomorrow. 

It really didn't take long to get adjusted, but I'm probably still running off adrenaline. I am looking forward to sharing more details as the days unfold. I just wanted to do a little 4 day summary of what that days have looked like. 

I pray your soul is well and filled with joy in the King!