Week 6 Day 6
2 Chronicles 5:13 The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.”
Worship is at once a most personal and intimate experience. The worshiper and God in loving embrace as all of Heaven looks on. It is a time when healing happens, and hope is restored and direction is given. It is, I believe, the most sublime experience there is. It is also, a synergy that occurs among worshipers that binds together the very disparate spirits which are found in any gathering of believers in the salvation and grace of our Lord Jesus. This synergy which connects us may rightly be expressed as the presence of the Holy Spirit as the very presence of Christ himself. Okay, definitions out of the way; What’s the point?
It always seems that in any worship experience I have experienced over the years the full force of human willfulness and self-interest has become a component of the time spent together. People come with their own agendas, people are vested in “correcting” the “impure” or “improper” worship of their neighbors, and worst of all intruding on that precious intimacy the individuals are intent on sharing with their creator. Before I let my own frustration get the better of me I need to recognize a few important truths. First, God knows every heart from top to bottom, inside and out. Second, I must accept the fact that You are not me, and I am not you. We are all at different places on the journey. Grace demands that we love one another. It does not mean that we trash someone or “correct” them. I think particularly of rambunctious children. These are the ones I love to see in the worship arena. Their intrinsic honesty, and their capacity for hope is right out there for all to see. Jesus cherished this and many other qualities possessed by children. Finally, our capacity to differentiate between momentary intrusions or annoyances and our vast spiritual connections and possibilities is the very stuff which commentator John Stott and others have said of the apostles. They were living in a dynamic tension “between two worlds” (The Spirit leads the Church into the world. A commentary on the book of Acts Intervarsity Press)
Larry M Lawrence- Mysteries 