WHOLEHEARTED, ALL ENCOMPASSING, JOYOUS WORSHIP

The first place that the early church really began to take root outside of Israel was Egypt. The church rapidly developed an intellectual base in Alexandria, Egypt and the most ancient New Testament manuscripts come from that church.

For various reasons, the Egyptian desert gradually became a place for monastic individuals and communities. They desired to preserve the raw simplicity of the gospel, forsaking the world. God used those monastic people and communities in several powerful ways that I won't go into here, but out of those communities came awe-inspired worship, including the following hymn, which reflects the heart and character of the these people. As you read these words, you can imagine these simple, yet profound people, living in the rocks and crags of the desert, completely caught up in the glory and wonder of God and His creation:

May none of God's wonderful works

keep silence, night or morning

Bright stars, high mountains, the depths of the seas,

sources of rushing rivers:

May all these break into song as we sing

to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

May all the angels in the heavens reply:

Amen! Amen! Amen!

This is cited in Turning Points, 2nd Ed., by Mark A. Noll.

God used these simple people to preserve the fundamentals of the Christian faith at a time when the doctrine of the trinity was under severe attack. That, however, is a book length story. The question for us is how we can break away from the hustle and bustle and noise of life in order to learn to meditate and worship with the joy and confidence of these long forgotten saints whom God used to protect His church.