More on Worship
It’s a bit cloudy right now, but still warmish, even though Fall starts in just a few days now.
Before worship this morning, from where I usually sit, I see the walk leading from the parking lot, and so can watch people arrive. In some families, the children are running ahead, in others, kids twaddle, and they’re usually boys. Why is that, I wonder. And I see the faces, some eager, some worried, all coming because they are looking for a Word for their lives.
Then, as people arrive, there are murmured greetings, some small talk, worship folders distributed, and everybody settles down. Some prepare for worship by reading a hymn. Or reading some Passage from the pew Bible at hand, or just sitting quietly, waiting, and meditating.
The pace is leisurely, life slows down a bit, nothing is rushed, there is no hurry, we begin to understand what is meant by “Be Still, and know that I am God.”
And the thought comes that this is one reason for the worship hour. It is really to give us the time to hear God, to take time, without butting in with our inanities, to pay close attention to what God said to us, remembering that what we learn “was written for our learning, on whom the ends of the world are come”. And its important that we hear what is said without butting in with some senseless thought, or twitter, as one church encourages. How sad a commentary.
But the hour at worship brings a sense of peace and then of belonging, for I hear Jesus say “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one can snatch them out of my hands”. John 10,27.28
So I can leave that hour knowing again I am not a number, but a name for whom Jesus died, and for whom God cares. What riches are mine, and yours, Baptized Child of God.
GPD 9/19/10
Before worship this morning, from where I usually sit, I see the walk leading from the parking lot, and so can watch people arrive. In some families, the children are running ahead, in others, kids twaddle, and they’re usually boys. Why is that, I wonder. And I see the faces, some eager, some worried, all coming because they are looking for a Word for their lives.
Then, as people arrive, there are murmured greetings, some small talk, worship folders distributed, and everybody settles down. Some prepare for worship by reading a hymn. Or reading some Passage from the pew Bible at hand, or just sitting quietly, waiting, and meditating.
The pace is leisurely, life slows down a bit, nothing is rushed, there is no hurry, we begin to understand what is meant by “Be Still, and know that I am God.”
And the thought comes that this is one reason for the worship hour. It is really to give us the time to hear God, to take time, without butting in with our inanities, to pay close attention to what God said to us, remembering that what we learn “was written for our learning, on whom the ends of the world are come”. And its important that we hear what is said without butting in with some senseless thought, or twitter, as one church encourages. How sad a commentary.
But the hour at worship brings a sense of peace and then of belonging, for I hear Jesus say “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one can snatch them out of my hands”. John 10,27.28
So I can leave that hour knowing again I am not a number, but a name for whom Jesus died, and for whom God cares. What riches are mine, and yours, Baptized Child of God.
GPD 9/19/10
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