Worship
On Sunday we headed down to a small community several hours south of here to fill a pulpit while a pastor was away on holidays. As usual it was a delight to fellowship with other believers that we had never met before. Next Sunday it's a community a few hours north.
I've been blessed to worship with believers in North America, Africa and Southeast Asia. There are huge differences in the way the different groups worship, but as long as they are part of the one true church, Holy Spirit is there and worship is a time of blessing.
I've preached where translators needed to be used because the people listening did not speak English. I've listened to songs praising God whose words I did not understand. I've heard the gospel proclaimed in various languages.
I've stood in huge cathedrals and watched people worship under the shelter of a tree in the middle of no where. I've seen high tech light shows that people of the middle ages would call "magic" and others where the only technology was a candle and a single Bible.
I've been to churches where the people were so wealthy that it seemed as if everyone who came had their own automobile. Some wore suits that cost as much as I spend on a car. I've been at other gatherings where no one in the entire congregation owned a car. Some of these people only owned the clothes on their backs.
Some gatherings numbered in the tens of thousands while others had two or three present.
I've worshipped in churches that used no musical instruments and others that seemed to almost have a symphony. Some used hymns only and other did hours of contemporary praise choruses.
There are highly stylized and ritualistic churches and gatherings that seem to have no discernable form to an outsider. There are groups that sit in silence and others that dance in joy and still others occupy the middle ground.
Each place had a different flavor from all the rest. Some people have definite preferences and ideas about the right way to do church, but the truth is that God likely appreciates them all.
God likely doesn't care whether we own a cathedral or meet in a coffee shop. He doesn't care whether we own the land or rent our facilities. He probably doesn't care about whether we dress up or down (after all He looks at the heart not the outward appearance).
He has ordained praise from every tribe and tongue. I believe that when we get to heaven there will be more different styles of worship than we can ever imagine, all of them united in the praise of God.
There is no doubt that your personal favorite will be there but so will thousands of other formats that you've never experience before. What a blessing it will be worshipping with people from around the world and across the barriers of time and language. It gives me God-bumps just thinking about it.
Revelation 7:9-10 NIV
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
He saw a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne. Wow! What a sight and sound that will be. The best of every culture in the world applied to worshipping the one true God. I can hardly wait!
Kevin
On Sunday we headed down to a small community several hours south of here to fill a pulpit while a pastor was away on holidays. As usual it was a delight to fellowship with other believers that we had never met before. Next Sunday it's a community a few hours north.
I've been blessed to worship with believers in North America, Africa and Southeast Asia. There are huge differences in the way the different groups worship, but as long as they are part of the one true church, Holy Spirit is there and worship is a time of blessing.
I've preached where translators needed to be used because the people listening did not speak English. I've listened to songs praising God whose words I did not understand. I've heard the gospel proclaimed in various languages.
I've stood in huge cathedrals and watched people worship under the shelter of a tree in the middle of no where. I've seen high tech light shows that people of the middle ages would call "magic" and others where the only technology was a candle and a single Bible.
I've been to churches where the people were so wealthy that it seemed as if everyone who came had their own automobile. Some wore suits that cost as much as I spend on a car. I've been at other gatherings where no one in the entire congregation owned a car. Some of these people only owned the clothes on their backs.
Some gatherings numbered in the tens of thousands while others had two or three present.
I've worshipped in churches that used no musical instruments and others that seemed to almost have a symphony. Some used hymns only and other did hours of contemporary praise choruses.
There are highly stylized and ritualistic churches and gatherings that seem to have no discernable form to an outsider. There are groups that sit in silence and others that dance in joy and still others occupy the middle ground.
Each place had a different flavor from all the rest. Some people have definite preferences and ideas about the right way to do church, but the truth is that God likely appreciates them all.
God likely doesn't care whether we own a cathedral or meet in a coffee shop. He doesn't care whether we own the land or rent our facilities. He probably doesn't care about whether we dress up or down (after all He looks at the heart not the outward appearance).
He has ordained praise from every tribe and tongue. I believe that when we get to heaven there will be more different styles of worship than we can ever imagine, all of them united in the praise of God.
There is no doubt that your personal favorite will be there but so will thousands of other formats that you've never experience before. What a blessing it will be worshipping with people from around the world and across the barriers of time and language. It gives me God-bumps just thinking about it.
Revelation 7:9-10 NIV
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
He saw a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne. Wow! What a sight and sound that will be. The best of every culture in the world applied to worshipping the one true God. I can hardly wait!
Kevin
No comments:
Post a Comment