WORSHIP
I always looked at Sunday
morning as a time to go to the House dedicated to, and set aside for, the
expressed purpose of honoring God....I have always envisioned the sanctuary as
the Holy of Holies after the "Renting of the Veil".....This makes it
a much more special place to me than it seems to be to many people....
I love the great old
cathedrals which were built with such grandeur and are places where, when you
walk in, you just stand in quiet reverence....You speak in whispers and no one
is walking around laughing, wearing a ball cap, or drinking a coke....You know
you are in a place dedicated to God and it seems you can feel God dwelling
there irregardless of the name above the door.....
Sometimes I just wish they
would lower the lights in our sanctuary on Sunday Morning and once you entered
all you were allowed to do was to sit quietly in His presence and weep and
pray.....Not pray for, but pray to.....Simply spend time making sure all
of my thoughts and prayers are thoughts that are in praise and admiration of
Him....I don't think worship is about getting...I think it is about giving.....Whether
it is in the sanctuary or in our everyday living..
But yet, I am "double
minded" because I too like to hear a good sermon, (even if a few weeks or
months later I find out the preacher has taken advantage of the church, been
unethical in business, or had a secret affair)...But I wonder if it might not
be better to just hear someone stand and "Read from the
Scrolls"....That way we would only hear what God has to say to man
instead of hearing man tell us what "he thinks" God
is saying to man....Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't be limiting our
preaching, music, and teaching, to the "Outer Courts" of the
church...(Sunday school classes, Bible studies, Prayer meetings etc .and leave
the sanctuary as a special place just to worship Him in Holy Quietness ..)
I guess all this
"Ecclesiastical Mumbo Jumbo" just shows how goofy some people can
think when they don't know a lot about what they are thinking...
All I know is that it is
Sunday Morning and I must quit this rambling and get ready to go to the church
and become a part of the circus of "celebration" that doesn't involve
much more than a inspiration and a sermon...We will sing the same shallow
choruses that we have sung for the last five years and will sing each of them
at least three times....These choruses will be led by a director and four other
people we call a " Praise Team"...(Maybe the director doesn't know
the songs well enough to lead them by himself...I don't know)...
This will go on for about 30
to 40 minutes and we will be expected to stand the entire time...Sometime
during this "time of inspiration" we will turn around and create what
resembles a cattle stampede in order to greet someone around us and tell them
we are glad to have them, whether we are or not.....
The visitors will finally
know who the Pastor is because he will come up out of the congregation and will
deliver his sermon....At the end of the sermon we will sing another
"chorus of celebration" at least three times and be
dismissed...(Hopefully in time to get a table at the restaurant and enjoy the
fellowship of some friends....)
Please don't take this too
seriously...Much of it is "Tongue in Cheek"......
Well, I will shut up..... I
must hurry.......I don't want to miss the fun.....
