Noche De Adoracion means “Night Of Adoration” or “Night Of Worship.” It also served as a “soft opening” for our new all-Spanish service that begins on Sunday, December 2 at 11:30 at our Corner Campus.
Frankly, I went out of a sense of obligation — it was a Friday night, after all — and teamwork.
And once the event got started, I couldn’t stop crying. Tears came from nowhere, it seemed, but stayed with me all evening long.
Why?
Well, from the first notes of Mighty To Save — except in Spanish it’s Poderoso Para Salvar — we were surrounded with the unabashed joy of our Spanish speaking friends singing praises to God in their heart language. All this time, they’ve been singing in my heart language, and there’s a natural restraint and uncertainty that goes along with that.
Not on this evening. We sang Spanish versions of Our God (Nuestro Dios), How He Loves Us (Cuanto El Nos Ama), and The Great I Am (El Gran Yo Soy), and through it all our Latino community sang and celebrated with gusto and gratitude.
So I got swept up in their thankfulness.
I was also profoundly grateful for . . .
Eight years of prayer, planning, and translating now coming to pass with a new Spanish worship.
The opportunity to work with my own father-in-law (mi suegro) in the early days of translating our worship via headphones.
God’s provision in bringing and keeping dedicated families who sacrificed much to be part of a larger, English speaking community.
Divinely timed leadership in Sammy Gonzalez and his family. Becky’s vocals were haunting in their beauty that night.
The teamwork embodied by Chris Macedo who played guitar and sang on Friday. Chris doesn’t speak Spanish yet learned the translation and pronunciation of all those lyrics so he could lead us and lead us well. That he did.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Or Feliz Accion de Gracias.
Because I already had mine last Friday night.