Scripture urges us to "offer the sarifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving htanks to his name. (Heb. 13:15 KJV). The Old Covenant required the sacrifice of bulls and goats (and a lot of birds too interestingly :)). The new covenant requires the sacrifice of praise. Peter tells us that as Christ's new royal priesthood we are to offer "spiritual sacrifices" which means to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (Note: Declaring praises is just one of many, many amazing priest privileges that Peter inspires us with in 1 Peter 2.) Peter and John left the Sanhedrin with bleeding backs and praising lips (Acts 5:41). Paul and Silas filled the Philippian jail with their songs of praise (Acts 16:25). In each case they were offering the sacrifice of praise. - Foster 168. I was challenged and inspired by this paragraph.
I'm not too prescriptive with worship "how to's" because as Brennan Manning I believe once said, (I paraphrase) it would be easier to catch a hurricane in a shrimp net than to capture and express the furious, passionate love of God." In other words, how do you "how to list" the heaving heart of God? I have no clue.
I DID LOVE THIS piece of advice though -- "Absorb distractions with gratitude." Reading these words brought this to mind:
Christ's cousin, friend, baptizer, and prophet that spoke Christ's own testimony (all prophets speak Christ's testimony) was beheaded. Jesus retreats. His retreat is broken. A fussing, needy crowd invades his quiet time. Jesus embraces them. In His embrace, the only other recorded event in all four gospels besides the resurrection takes place. Passover with broken people (broken bread) becomes Pentecost - an incredible harvest feast.
I'm left considering - is Christ's miracle feeding archetypal? In other words, is there a Pentecost feast waiting to erupt in glory with every broken quiet time?
What if demanding my boundaries and quiet time actually impedes the kingdom?
Steve, I was really impacted by that line about distractions too.
ReplyDeleteHow often am I sitting in my kitchen, having my quiet time, when one of my roommates comes in, and all of a sudden I start to feel all self-righteous, as if I've been 'interrupted' in some way. But instead, he's just offering me another opportunity to worship in a new and different way.