First of all, happy Mothers’ Day to all you moms, grandmas, aunts, and other maternally instinctive souls.
Secondly, I am dead-smack in the middle of editing my very dear Scottish friend James’ 90-100 page dissertation for his Ph.D in ministry at Asbury. I say that for two reasons:
1) So you will know how smart he is
2) So I can feel smart for editing a Ph.D’s paper (*note: FEEL smart)
I spent a good 2 hours before church at Starbucks diving in. At times, I would forget I was supposed to be looking for passive tense verbs or misplaced commas and I would get wrapped up in what he was writing about.
At church today, Pastor Steve talked about some of the Sacred Pathways of worship (based on the Gary Thomas book.) The service was structured very differently than normal. A meaningful moment happened about a quarter through the service. Probably close to 800 or so candles were set up around the auditorium and we had a response time for anyone who wanted to go light a candle for a recent commitment they have made. Some of the larger candles were already lit, signifying the light God is to us, and has passed on to us…and we were to light our candles using the flame already burning….
After reading half of James’ dissertation about the spiritual condition of the UK, specifically Scotland, and talking to Chris before the service about how much we feel our hearts breaking for those in Scotland, we went up and lit a candle to physically represent our commitment to pointing the people of Edinburgh to Christ during the 16 or so days we are there. It was a very moving moment for us…also seeing hundreds of people make the walk and light their own candles as a response to their personal commitments.
Well, I need to get back to the remaining 48 or so pages I’ve yet to read and edit….
Question: Out of the following, what environment(s) do you personally express your worship in?
*Nature
*Senses
*Ritual
*Solitude
*Obidience
*Celebration
*Knowledge
Comments
16 responses to “Coffee, Commas & Candles”
Acually, most of these environments are those in which I feel drawn to worship. A beautiful Kansas sunset, the aroma of the fileds as they burn in the spring, the ritual of my special chair, cup of coffee, and quiet worship music playing as I enjoy His presence early in the morning before the rest of my house is stirring. Of all these, I probably personally struggle with obedience and worshp the most, kind of begrudingly obeying, more out of fear of consequences than anything else.
Blessings,
Shari
Anne, can’t say why I am more grateful, for your editing of my paper or your passion for my nation. On balance the second, I am praying you have a great time when you come over. Thanks again
Anne,
This is a tough question. I would have to say that most of my worship to God of late has been out of celebration. Out of an attitude of awe to His Goodness, Beauty, and Holiness and a since thankfullness that for some reason he still hears my cries. I pray to be able to worship God out of obediance, but I fail often in that area. Of late I have been able to escape to an awesome park near by and just sit and wait for God in solitude, which has been a huge blessing. I am not sure to the explanation of your refernece to Nature, however I do know that when you are up in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range it his hard to escape the beauty and majesty of God. I feel much more close to God in those times of retreat.
oh girl. you are speaking to my heart right now. i have been hungry for authentic worship… and just in the singing/playing music sense…. but in the ways i feel i can best worship my God. a lot of how i choose and desire to worship my God is through pretty much all of those outlets… it really has a lot to do with the temperature of my relationship with Him at the time.
i am going to post about this actually… since i am feeling so passionate about it… thanks for the inspiration…. i will give credit where credit due.
love you… and thanks for the neato Lake Pointe invite (yes i said neato).
bye.
Anne,
I would LOVE to read that paper. OF course we have our opinions on the decline of Christianity in Scotland, but it would be just awesome to get a Scot’s perspective, who has actually studied it in depth.
And might I add lived and ministered there, I would love to hear your opinion?
I found this link on Rick Cassel’s sight (do not know how to link on comments).
Good question. I’d love to say nature, because I worked at the Grand Canyon, and the nature there is an everpresent reminder of God’s beauty and power. But here there are just so many misquitos.
At the moment, I think knowledge and celebration are big ones for me. These are areas where I encounter others. And I’m constantly in awe of God’s created images.
obedience …
thanks for a great start to my day – it was fun to meet!
Anne,
Solitude and obedience are my personal forms of worship. Looking forward to more info. about Scotland.
Asbury? As in the Asbury College and Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky? My dad, my brother, and 3/4 of my aunts, uncles, and cousins have all gone to school there. Small world syndrome strikes again.
Asbury? As in the Asbury College and Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky? … THE VERY SAME
hey miss jackson…what’s up? i’mmmmmmm baaaaccckkk! so when are you guys coming up here for the graduations? are you just coming for that day or staying the weekend also? just wanted to say hi and i hope you guys are loving it down in the good ol Te-has!
to answer your question…you didn’t list the environment that i best experience worship in but for me it’s in Silence and in Song! definitely!
daniel
The concept in Purpose Driven Life that all of life is worship struck a heavy chord in me. If I worship in one aspect…adoration over nature, etc, but do not carry that over to my life in obedience…I wonder if it is really worship. I remember reading about the children of Israel, that God’s intent to put them through all they went through in tests of their obedience, was in fact, to teach them to worship him. When I read that, I determined that all He was doing in my life, all tests, all journeys, all frustrations, were part of his attempt to help me trust him, and trust him more…to worship, not complain, and follow. I think the victories in that path lead me to celebrate. Without victories…either His revealed to me, or my own walking in HIm…celebratory worship is pretty vain and boring to me. Jesus said, “this is eternal life, that you may know me, the Father, and the son whom he has sent.” So yeah, knowledge. If I don’t know him, I won’t obey, and I can’t truly celebrate much of a living, working thing. Ritual? As I age, that’s becoming more something I crave…links to my past faith reminding me I serve the same God who got me through yesterday. When in times of trouble, my heart goes back to hymns of my early years. In the Great Banquet movement, there is a pull back to reading prayers together and reciting the Lord’s Supper together…hearing myself re-read that aloud with others as God works through things in my own life takes me back to a rootedness. My answer to “ritual” has changed in the last couple years. I find it ministers to me somewhat. I wouldn’t be satisfied with it all the time, but holidays and such, I am drawn back to the familiar.
~Kentucky Girl
Oh, and senses…I left that out. Yeah…I love the pull toward variety in worship…adding video, sketches, lighting, different volumes, instruments, sounds. Keeps me alert. And I love times of solitude with the Lord undistracted. I love it all. Couldn’t do without any of it.
Did I say “variety” yet..I was really trying not to use that word this time!
Ah Natural. Always.
Los
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