Foolish Worship

Sunday 3/6/2011 3:55 AM

I have always enjoyed playing with children, helping them to exercise their imaginations.  A couple of weeks ago at a Wednesday evening dinner at our church I ate at a table with the two young daughters of a close friend.  I often pretend to have super powers that make me superman around them and I started a conversation regarding that topic.  Soon I was running around the room pretending to fly like superman with the two girls.  Those eating dinner were somewhat surprised to see an old man running around the room.  Later we pretended to be animals of different sorts and I suddenly morphed into a giraffe and an elephant at the suggestions of the girls.  A few days later their mother said that her daughters said that I was the best grandpa ever.

Today I read a quote by Frederick Buechner that reminds me of my interactions with those two young girls.  He writes, “To worship God means to serve him.  There are two ways to do it.  One way is to do things for him that he needs to have done – run errands for him, carry messages for him, fight on his side, feed his lambs, and so on.  The other way is to do things for him that you need to do – sing songs for him, create beautiful things for him, give things up for him, tell him what is on your mind and in your heart, in general rejoice in him and make a fool of yourself for him the way lovers have always made fools of themselves for the one they love … Unless there is an element of joy and foolishness in the proceedings, the time would be better spent doing something useful.”

This view of worship seems different than that with which I was raised and the view of many in the congregation with whom I regularly worship.  That view sees worship as a somber and staid affair in which the worshipers must maintain an attitude of proper respect and decorum.  Anything that strays from the norm is seen as falling below the standard that God requires of us, his people.  We seem to avoid what Buechner calls the “foolishness” of worship but it seems to me that in doing so we also miss the accompanying joy.  It seems to me that few looking from the outside would be drawn to that kind of joyless worship and would certainly never say that we are the best worshipers ever.  I pray that I will be able to have those elements of unabashed joy and foolishness as I worship with the people of God.

Remodeling

Saturday 4/2/2011 5:59 AM

This morning I am sitting in my chair looking into our kitchen, which is in the process of being remodeled.  Yesterday they grouted the backsplash, installed the sink, the dishwasher, the garbage disposal and the cooktop.  Things are really starting to take shape.  I also notice the spots in the paint job where it got dinged when the cupboards were put in and the spots where plaster got pulled off the wall when the tape was removed after painting the cupboards.  There is a light switch plate that doesn’t completely cover the hole in the wall that was made for the electrical box and the windowsill by the sink was also dented and marred by those who installed the granite.  The light fixtures in the ceiling do not seem to be completely flush and the switches that control the light and the exhaust fan in the laundry room need to be switched.  Progress is being made toward the final completion of the project but there seem to be things popping up in the middle of the project that set it back some.

Today my assigned New Testament reading is Romans 7:19, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.”  Earlier in Romans Paul writes about the new life we have in Christ, the fact that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. The verse quoted above seems to imply that sin keeps rearing its ugly head, inhibiting the transformation.

My life is much like our kitchen remodel.  God is in the process of reconciling me to himself, gutting me of the sin that permeated my life and remodeling me in the image of Christ; clothing me with the fruit of the Spirit.  Progress is being made but occasionally there are setbacks and there needs to be some spackling, sanding and repainting to get my life back on track.  Thankfully, my Contractor is patient and faithful to his promise.  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 says it well.  “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”