I find myself being careful with my thoughts that go on this blog. The last few months have sent me into a tailspin of putting together thoughts and words and saying what I want to say. I took time off thinking I would come back ready to write and still find myself going days, fingers on the keyboard and thoughts coming from all over that lack cohesion and, sometimes, lack civility.
One thing that keeps floating around in my head is the idea of worship. I know there are debates that could go on for eons about worship allowing us to spend time on our soapboxes while ignoring the broken and the lost. That is not my intent here but I have certainly had some heart and mind changes about what worship is and looks like and this is my spot to start sorting some of it out and for the purposes of what I'm talking about today, I'm only looking at our assemblies on Sundays where Christians come together to worship God.
I've seen a church building on I-35 around Waco sporting a sign for a 39 minute worship. Now, for some of us, worshiping for 39 minutes would be a record because we are thinking about what needs to get done this week, whether anyone noticed our closed eyes, wondering if we are going to get out of here in time to eat and see the Cowboys game or whether we need to pick a restaurant with a TV, wondering why Wade is starting Barber over Jones or Jones over Barber and why in the world Jerry ever signed TO. We are thinking about the next vacation, the next day, the next big spending spree. We are doing a lot of things without participating until someone mentions the 39 minute worship and we re-engage to decry something so dastardly. On the other hand, if church runs over more than 60 minutes (21 more minutes than the other guys are putting in), we are in an uproar that it took too long, the preacher's sermon isn't that interesting, the comments made by Brother So-and-So were unnecessary, too many songs, blah, blah, blah.
I grew up in the Church of Christ and I knew that the service should not take more than an hour and if it did, well someone was going to hear about it. Yes, we can come together to worship for one hour but that's all you get God.
Let me suggest that if we come together and our hearts are fully attuned to worship the LORD, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Savior of our souls, if we come fully aware of who it is we are praising, an hour could pass by like a moment and we would never know. If the greatness of God was on our hearts and on our minds, what could possibly be more compelling than a day full of worship?
Understand, these are the questions I am asking of myself and no one else. I am only confessing my past problems and my current thoughts on what and who I want to be from this day forward. There is no doubt in my my mind that the people leading a worship service can have a great impact on the mood and attitude of the worshippers but if I don't show up with the right attitude, the right mind-set towards my God, I need to check my heart and examine my thoughts because I know, deep down, I want to lay it all out for the One who has saved me from death, covered me in grace and loves me like no other.
Grace and peace to you.
5 comments:
I like it!
My thoughts-you can, of course, take them with the proverbial grain of salt.
Is this 39 minute worship thing a franchise type thing? I mean a church pays a franchise fee and you get a 39 minute worship kit? What's up with that?
Is this 60 minute worship thing based on a television time slot from the tv guide? Or is it from four fifteen minute quarters of a football game?
Maybe the 60 minute "worship service" comes from the concept that finely divided "acts of worship" can systematically be subtracted from the other "acts of living" where the formula 1440 minutes-1380 minutes= 60 minutes. Ah, there we have it... there are a total of 1440 minutes in a day and if I allot 60 minutes for my acts of worship on Sunday mornings, that leaves me 1380 minutes for other imporant things like eating, sleeping, and whatever else I want to do. But make sure that formula is only applied on Sundays (and maybe Wednesdays also).
However, as you so astutely point out, there are techniques that can be applied to the formula that enable us to leverage that 60 minute "worship time" and multitask so that no minutes are truly wasted and we're maximizing those uses of the minutes while sitting in a pew. After all, isn't pew sitting one of the hallmarks of a faithful Christian? Why else would we have those padded pews? Other than the comfort of our buttocks, of course.
4 out of 5 dentists concur that most experts agree that statistics show that 60 minutes of padded pew sitting, with the occasional hiatus of standing for the opening song and closing prayer, while not only comfortable on the gluteus maximus, equals acceptable "worship time." By the way, I am a doctor, but I don't play one on tv.
And isn't an acceptable "worship service" with an orderly, acceptable "worship schedule" performing specified, acceptable "acts of worship" what pleases God?
I mean when I read Acts 29 beginning in verse 1, I can necessarily infer that what pleases God is a worship service with a worship schedule whereby worshipers are performing acts of worship...all within the constraints of one hour. Nevermind if we truly praised God, encouraged each other, fellowshipped with our brothers/sisters, minstered to the hurting, reached out to the lost, repented of our sins, renewed our covenant with the Lord, or drew on the strength that comes from the God of righteousness, joy and peace. Just as long as we got 60 minutes of accepatable worship.
Kyle, I'm guessing you were referring to Act 2 instead of Acts 29 but after reading about the 4 out of 5 dentists deal, I don't want to put words into your response.
Thanks for sharing your passion for the subject.
No. I was being sarcastic about the Acts 29 thing and necessary inferences. Some of my previous necessary inferences from actual scriptures have been about as necessary as Acts 29...seeing how Acts ends with chapter 28.:)
Thanks for the discussion.
I thought that might be the case but wasn't sure and didn't want the other thousands and thousands of people leaving comments to be confused.
Do you ever worry about the one dentist who doesn't agree with the other four?
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