Tuesday, January 10, 2012 - 3D Worship

"In reply Jesus declared,

'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'"

John 3:3

     For the life of me, I still don't understand the differences between blu-ray, HD, plasma, LCD, LED, KFC, digital recordings, dolby sound, tweeters and woofers, red tag, and blue light specials but even I know when I'm watching a film in 3-D. The picture's blurry without the goofy glasses and it's "interactive" with the goofy glasses.  I would like to speak on behalf of those of us who can enjoy a movie without all the bells and whistles.  As long as I can hear the dialogue and see expressions, I can enjoy a good movie or television show because characters and plot are the two most important parts of any story in my opinion, but there are those in my acquaintance who can't sit quietly, get to know the characters or follow the plot, unless all the effects are up and running.  While I admit my viewing pleasure rises with the tweaks, I don't like to interrupt a movie in the thick of the plot to improve anything.  If I'm watching it, I'm enjoying it "as is." 

     Believers who want to worship God can worship Him in Africa without sound systems or screens.  They can enjoy His Presence alone in a crowd of unbelievers or in a room filled with worship songs in another language, culture, or style.  They don't have to have candles, stained glass, or a guitar.  They worship because the Main Character is Present and He commands attention. How can we best prepare to worship God with anyone, anywhere, anytime, and under any circumstances?  We stop every morning and worship Him when we're frazzled, short on time, short on patience, and think we'd do better just to skip it.  Closing our eyes to His kingdom leads to seeing people in fuzzy groups instead of as individuals, blurring our purpose into what's urgent, dropping God's goals for us and storming over them in our hurry to get out the door to do lesser things. What a testimony to Christian unity if we all put on our kingdom-vision glasses, focus on Him, and let Him clear things up for us and put us back on track.

Father, forgive us for tweaking all the meaning right out of worship and for making it about anything other than You.  So much concern about progress and professionalism, personal tastes, pet peeves, and the "cutting edge" all do their part to erode our focus on You. Teach us to truly worship You at home alone and with our families so that when we come together we've already been fed and what we bring is to share.  May Your children rise up and see Your kingdom for what it is - a place where You rule and souls matter most.

In the Name of Jesus Who taught and preached the Kingdom of God at hand