As your Worship Coordinator, it is a blessing to serve you and to lead you in worship. In my quest to continue to improve, to learn things, and to get renewed and restored, I attend worship conferences periodically. In February, Wendy Rees and I attended the Worship Together Conference in Franklin, Tennessee. This was the first time we had attended a conference sponsored by Worship Together. It was a wonderful and God-filled day and a half of worship, teaching, and renewal. One of the highlights was in Session 1 as we were blessed to hear the teaching of the pastor of the host church, Church of the City. Darren Whitehead spoke about the 7 Hebrew words of praise and how they relate to our worship life. In the next 3 newsletters, I wish to share some of what he spoke of with you. I will begin with the first two words, Yadah and Halal.
Yadah (yaw-daw’) is to worship with the extended hand, to throw out the hand. It carries the meaning of absolute surrender, as a young child does to a parent.
Psalm 145:10 All your works praise (yadah) you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.
Halal (also halah) (haw-lal’) is to rave, to shine, to boast, to celebrate, to be clamorously foolish. Halal is the primary Hebrew root word for praise. Our word “hallelujah” comes from this base word.
Psalm 145:3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised (halaled); Psalm 69:30 I will praise (halal) the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
The next time you’re worshiping God, keep these words and their meanings in mind. There is more than one way to praise our Lord. In the next newsletter, you will learn about Shabach and Zamar
– Marianna Gill
