Monday, December 3, 2012

How, why, what

Isaiah 1:10-20
Where do you sit when you visit a church, not your every week one, the one where you feel at home but the one in the town you have never been to before? Usually I like to sit about two- thirds of the way back. Then I can easily copy their local variations of worldwide Anglican worship. I sat there, two of three rows from the back on my first visit to a church. The man next to us moved along a seat, not to accommodate us but to allow space between him and us. The Peace was only to be shared with those one knew. We knew nobody, Our Peace was grudgingly taken.
In our home church my service of choice is the more free and easy evening service. At Holy Spirit before I was a contemporary service person. Why, because I object to theeing and thouing in the Lord's prayer alone. I am happy to have Thy Kingdom come in a service surrounded by similar language. But this hobby horse is not the subject of this writing.
The church we were visiting has incense. plenty of incense. It fits in with their style of worship. The church of my choice when I came back to Christianity after a wandering in my late teens had incense. Clouds of smoke reminding us of our prayers. The reason I chose that church was the welcome and the sharing of God's love. Incense, no incense are immaterial to a loving prayerfulness.
Recently I visited that church again. I made sure I sat in a totally different part of the church. And how different  it was. Peace was flowing everywhere in our little corner.
My opinion is that God is not interested in how we worship. It is the why we worship that is important along with what we do between Sunday and Sunday.

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