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Well, this is a little story about "hearing the voice of THE Shepherd"...
It all happened about the time we, Voice of the Shepherd started singing and ministering together. Maybe even before we had written any songs together. Perhaps only a month after we began serving in worship music at Erev Shabbat (Evening Sabbath) Service. We had led the worship music that Friday night service and always had a time of fellowship (Oneg) with coffee and cookies, etc afterward. But this time, I was needing to get on the road but just had to briefly fellowship with my mishpocah (family). While making my apologies for my hasty exit, and only after giving hugs and kisses to Papa Max (Mordecai Kuritsky, Holocaust survivor and exemplary human being) and Mary, his girlfriend (Marie Thomas) and other "family" and friends, I rushed out to spend the weekend at a Christian retreat with a dear sister from our Messianic Congregation. It was held at a State Park; one place where we later observed Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) so it was around October and the crisp winter air was threatening to bring in some snow. It was a 30 minute drive from our Congregation and I was a bit tired, driving in an unfamiliar heavily wooded part of Northeast Ohio at night, alone, and I couldn't wait to find my friend and my bunk and settle in for the night.
I had packed an overnight case and I was carrying a large glass baking dish filled with cherry cheesecake as I walked toward the "meeting room". The roaring fireplace crackled, the warm glow welcomed me as I heard sweet praise and worship music being played; very similar to many songs that we had shared with our congregation in worship or in intimate times of worship, alone with the Lord. I had hardly entered into the damply lit and seemingly very full room when I was struck by the vision of a large Cross with a large wooden basin and towel at its base. I stood mesmerized. I felt called. I quickly realized that I was holding onto so much that I needed to set down so I could get to the foot of the Cross. My Lord Yeshua, hung and died on the Cross; and the wooden bowl and roughly cut linen towel laid there at its base, beckoned me to use it to serve. Hastily setting my things down, throwing off my winter coat and kicking off my heels, I ran to the foot of the cross, cradled the rustic vessel of service in my arms and put the towel over my arm. With tears streaming down my face from a heart that was bursting forth with love and worship, I was ready to wash my Savior's feet. It was then that I heard...
"You can't wash your brother's feet with dirty hands"...
I wondered if I was possibly feeling just a little bit of what Mary might have felt as she washed Yeshua's feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. My hungry soul, streaming tears out of a heart bursting with love. I wept and yearned to wash His feet... feeling so unworthy, yet feeling so honored. I clung to the bowl and towel, like soaking in the presence of a loved one whom we rarely see, visiting from a far away country, not even giving thought to retiring no matter how tired or how long day had been; I did not want it to end.
On the Sunday before we left this place of refuge and wonder, we gathered to dance in praise- filled worship when our favorite Messianic worship music began playing. We naturally formed a circle, even though only my friend and myself may have really known the music and the joyfulness of the praise that all the women in attendance seemed to welcome with such open hearts and spirits. It was the worship music of Paul Wilbur and his songs from Shalom Jerusalem. (DVD/CD, must see!!!) Roni Roni Bat Zion...Rejoice O Daughter of Zion. We danced the hora as I fervently played the tambourine as if I had been playing it all my life. Maybe that was when my worshipful spirit, like Miriam, you know, Moses's sister, who led praise and worship with the tambourine, became a real vehicle for service and ministry in my life. Speaking of rejoicing greatly, Listen to Rejoice Greatly #2 here , a song that the Lord gave me from Zechariah 9:9. I was a worshiper and now I had the instrument; apart from my voice and spirit could be used to call others into the intimacy with the Lord. This was not my only confirmation of worship ministry. Our friend, Marty Goetz, was instrumental to me personally (as well as to Voice of the Shepherd) in bringing a word from the Lord to me; more about that in a later blog post.
But what about "You can't wash your brother's feet with dirty hands"? Let me thankfully say that it was a word from God that I took with me from that retreat and I hold it continually in my heart to this day...I cried out for it's meaning in my life; but somehow, I felt that I knew.
We can't ascend to the Hill of the Lord, His Holy Place, without having clean hands and a pure heart.
- With having and keeping cleaned hands and a pure heart, we are ready to serve.
- Maybe a pure heart proceeds clean hands. It must be God's grace, that perhaps as we present and submit ourselves to the Lord's work, we lovingly wash my brother's feet, (of course, in a figurative, not literal way, preferring them to ourselves), that our own hands are cleansed. He "take(s) what is common and makes it Holy". (song # 4 -Jars of Clay)
Thanks for allowing me to share this story of encouragement and hope with you; I pray that you will find it helpful in your walk with the Lord...
Your sister in Messiah, always,
Denise aka Miriam (LOL)
Voice of the Shepherd
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