More on Worship

Saying for the day-John 10:10 (New King James Version) 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Sometimes things that seem obvious aren’t. This is particularly true when one uses secular analogies to illustrate religious ideas.

Last week Practical Chick responded to my blog entry on there being many kinds of worship in which we meet God by saying-
My point is - if you are falling asleep in church...and the President or a rock star walked in..how many would be on their feet clapping and whoo hooing and reaching out or toward that person with their hands?

Now that sounds reasonable doesn’t it. But suppose you spent the entire week with the President, who watched what you did, gave you some help, and was there for you. Are you on Sunday going to get all excited because he walks in . Probably not. Instead because you have been too busy to listen well all week you might take this time to really listen to hear the President’s still small voice. Of course if you are screaming and whoo hooing you can’t hear it and you miss what he has for you.

Does this show that Lutheran worship is better than Pentecostal ? Of course not. Why? Because God is not the President, or a Rock Star, or even a great Sports Figure. And Worship is not a political rally, a rock concert, or a Basketball game. So comparisons to the everyday world just don’t hold.

The truth is we end up attending a Church were we feel close to God. For some that requires excitement for others silence. There is no one right way to worship. What is important is that we worship. There is no dead church. I have worshipped in Orthodox, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist. Moravian, Pentecostal, and some with no name and I have never been in a dead church.

There are spiritually dead people in every church. If they come alive in some other church then instead of seeing that they were the dead one they decide the former church was. They proclaim a fractured gospel which in effect says “ My church is more alive than yours” or even worse “ Your church is dead but mine is alive”. In this age when the faith is under open attack from all sides we can not afford the luxury of attacking or demeaning each other.

The good news is that the Son has come to give us all life. If the Son makes you alive you are alive indeed.

#### News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal. This afternoon the people of Pigeon Falls are invited to the annual blessing of the manger. Pastor Joan will pray that the manger scene will be a blessing to the community and then the Methodist Pastor will lead a hymn sing. This year because the town’s trouble with the ACLU has made the National news there will be a Television news team here to record the event. That should give the ACLU plenty of ammunition the next time they go to court. A prayer service and a hymn sing on the town square what could be a worse breach of the wall of separation between Church and State.

The TV crew arrived this morning in their own truck. They had a rough ride as the road to Pigeon Falls is not in great shape. But they came with three video cameras, the ability to do a live feed back to the studio in New York, and plenty of video tape. Mrs. Trumble arrived and told them they needed a permit to park the truck on the main street for the purpose of filming. That cost them a couple of hundred dollars.

While they are here they are listening to dragon stories and are hoping the dragon will show up so they can get some film of it. Imagine the Pigeon Falls dragon on national television. Of course they can’t get a picture of the poltergeist but they could experience it.
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Today's Link- Rend the Heavens- Some really neat things here in Saturday's entry.
You never know what a day will bring. We got a foot of snow last night. It was heavy snow mixed with water. But that we thought was ok because we had the snow blower. Well Penny went to take out the snow blower and discovered one tire had fallen apart. None of us can shovel very well. By the time I got a hold of a handyman who came and plowed us out church was over. Now in the old days that little bit of snow wouldn't have kept us from church. I have driven through far worse but I don't drive any more and Betty is super cautious . She was afraid the bit of rain we had would turn to ice. So we missed the fellowship. Not that I have to go to church to worship but I need the strength that comes from all of us together. I need to hear the Word read and sung. In the afternoon we put up the Christmas tree. We picked it up after Christmas last year and it is only 4 1/2 feet tall. We put it on a table in the living room with the fantasy train around it. It looks pretty good. The other good thing is the dog is really afraid of the train. When you run it the dog hides. It was too dark to take good movies tonight so we will try to do that tomorrow and get some pictures to the blog by Tuesday. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA