By Celia Cardoza-Hill

I have learned to understand worship as a practice of paying attention to God. In the midst of our fast paced lives and many distractions, worship gives us a space to stop and remember who God is and who we are.

When I help lead worship, whether at my church or other special celebrations, I try to hold this truth closely: Worship is not something we produce; God is already present. Our songs, prayers, Scripture, and special moments simply help us recognize and respond to his presence.

A moment of worship that impacted me deeply by God’s presence was on the Friday night worship service at Fall Leadership Assembly 2025. We were commemorating 500 years of Anabaptism and declaring Jesus as the center of everything.

While we were singing together, I felt the Holy Spirit invite us to listen to the voice of God through our worship, trusting that he delights in us. However, as time lengthened, surrounded by an Anabaptist community known for order and punctuality, I felt an honest tension. In the back of my mind, there was a familiar question I’ve heard from congregations before: When are we going to finish?

Yet, I was also reminded to stay open and attentive. Time was not the significant thing; rather, it was the intercultural beauty of what God was doing among us. As we sang together, the Holy Spirit encouraged us to pay attention not only to our history, but also to what God wants to continue doing in the present. We felt the call to bless each other, remembering that we are sowers and planters, and God is the one who gives growth (1 Cor. 3:6)

For me, this moment became an invitation to discernment: to listen deeply, step forward in faith, and walk through an open door without fully knowing where it leads. At LMC, I feel that God calls us beyond cultures and languages to honor our history as we walk together with faith, becoming a Spirit-led movement.

Born in Honduras, Celia Cardoza-Hill now serves as a bilingual pastor at Ministerios Peniel Internacional in Ephrata alongside her husband, Reginaldo Hill. They have two daughters, Andrea and Sophia. Celia serves as a worship leader alongside her daughters and has a passion for intercultural worship, spiritual formation, and an attentiveness to God’s presence.