I work for Proskuneo Ministries. Proskuneo is the Greek word for worship. The picture of “proskuneo” worship is that of a dog sitting at its master’s feet licking the back of his hand. Such a beautiful picture of peace and safety. Overwhelming to those who have not known intimacy like that. Uncommon to many of us who live in this world.
I remember the first time I walked into it. My arms were crossed, defending myself as I had learned to do. It didn’t feel quite right because I couldn’t embrace it with my arms closed. But somehow it was trying to embrace me.
I think this may be the reason it is so easy to recognize this space, this environment, this atmosphere that is created by peace. At Proskuneo it has been intentional to set a room with that kind of uncommon peace. The “ambiance” of the room, if you will.
This summer we have had a lot going on at Proskuneo and much of it was moving at a pace that was anything but peaceful. At our Proskuneo School of the Arts we just finished eight weeks of summer camp. 100 plus children every day from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. It sounds more like a recipe for chaos than for calm.
About half way through the summer, the father of two of our campers died suddenly. It was a shock to all of us. But what was even more surprising was what happened the next morning after he passed away. His children chose to come to camp. It was almost as if they were seeking shelter in the only peaceful place they knew outside of their home.
The crazy thing is, nothing changed that day. There was no morning debrief or encouragement to change the way the staff did camp. They just went on filling the room with the same uncommon peace they had every other day. Yes, we do this intentionally. We don’t always do it this well but when we do it is a beautiful thing.
We can’t change the storms that come, but we can remember that when Jesus is sleeping in the boat, we don’t have to change course. We just keep doing what He taught us.