Authentic Worship

It had been a nightmarish week. The man he had placed all his hopes in had died.  It was not an ordinary death, it was a spectacle. The mockery of a trial before the Roman authorities, the scourging and beating, the parade of crim­inals, and finally the crucifixion was just too much for him to bear.   He had always been a practical man.   He was one of those "if the shoe fits" sort of guys.   His closest friends continued to hide fearing they would meet with the same fate as their master. Then they claimed to have had seen him.  He was alive and doing quite well. He refused to believe it.  Maybe it was the hurt or the disap­pointment or whatever, but he could not bear to go down that path again.

 

They talked him in to meeting with them in their place of hiding. The hope was that Jesus would come to them again, Thomas would finally see for himself. As the gath­ering continued, he appeared.   "Peace be with you." Jesus said, and then he turned his attention to the doubting    ! one.   "Come here and see for yourself." Jesus lovingly said. Thomas fell before Jesus and worshipped him.  His proclamation was clear and to the point, "My Lord and my God!"  It was authentic worship.

 

These days we argue about what songs to sing to him.  How long to proclaim the word. Should we sing the words while looking at a hymnal or from a screen? Let's not get anyone upset so let's do both. You can sing while looking at the screen, or if you must see the music so that you can sing the song properly, you can sing from your hymnal just so you don't get upset about it.  In one service we sing one hundred year old hymns accompanied by the piano and organ. In another we sing songs written in the last twenty years and accom­panied by guitars and drums and other stuff. Sometimes we blend the two together.  Southern Gospel and coun­try twang is the genre of choice in some churches; Beethoven and Bach are highly regarded in others. All the while, we have missed the point.

The essential nature of worship can be found in a practi­cal, disheartened man realizing he had come face to face with God in the flesh. You can practice any style of wor­ship you desire, and not really worship. That's because it's not about the style, it's about the heart. Authentic worship comes from a relationship with God, is directed toward God and is all about God.  Let's get real. It would do us all well to fall to our knees and proclaim "My Lord and my God!"

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