A New (?) Way to Worship

Funny how things all seem to come together...I was doing devotions today and stumbled across one called "How Real is Your Worship?" I've had a lot of conversations with people in the last while about how sometimes we just don't feel like it. And we all know it's not about feelings. Blah blah. Since God gave us feelings, I can hardly believe that feelings don't factor in somehow. Maybe the mystery is in how to get those feelings. Maybe we need to communicate our desires for those feelings to God, so He can show us that He alone can give them to us. Maybe He wants to use our blahs as a way to draw us closer. Just a thought.

And I must say, I am proud of our body (not my own personal body, I'm still working on that). I have seen tremendous growth in our church since I started going there less than four years ago. I don't spend every moment with every person in our church, but for the most part, I believe that we are coming before God with a genuine desire to meet with Him and present our praises to Him. We are learning there are many different ways to do this, through music (with or without the band), flags, dance, lifting holy hands, etc. I think God is pleased with our progress. But before we become too full of ourselves...

Isaiah 1:13-17 (the Message) says:
"Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I'll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you've been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don't have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless..."

Before you get offended (it's the Bait of Satan), I don't think we are playing charades when we worship. I think we are moving away from religion toward relationship. I think God is listening because He is answering our prayers. I just think it is interesting what God says He wants from His people. 1 Samuel 15:22 says "...Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams..." Kirk has been talking a lot about action (especially in Sunday night service, you should go). Love is action. Faith is action. Obeying is action. Kirk is a great speaker and very, um, creative, but I have to say, I think he is taking his material from the Bible. I'm pretty sure that God said it first. Like in the verses above from Isaiah, He says what He wants is action.

Psalm 92:1-3 says "It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High, to show forth Your loving-kindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night, with an instrument of ten strings and with the lute, with a solemn sound upon the lyre." Songs, instruments, etc. this is what we (or maybe just me) usually think of as worship. The devotion I read today suggested that the instrument of ten strings could possibly be referring to our instruments: two ears, two eyes, two hands, two feet, a mouth and and heart. (And there are a lot of verses to suggest these are our instruments.) It then asked "How musical are you today in worship?" Well, as someone who is not very musical at all, I found this very encouraging. I have been reading a lot about servanthood (in Conspiracy of Kindness, you should read it), and attempting to put it into action, but never considered this an act of worship.

You always hear people saying that everyone worships in their own way.
I think I know now what mine may be.