A little different

Last week was very interesting for me, to be sure, but I’ve not yet had time to fully digest (or, to be more grammatically correct, fully to digest) the spiritual implications of what we experienced while with my family in Dothan. So I’m borrowing inspiration from someone else again.

Our worship of Jesus is always a response to who He is or, rather, how we perceive Him to be. If he is somewhat small in our hearts and minds, our response may remain minimal, mechanical and even miserly. But as we see Him more and more for who He really is, realizing what He has done for us, then pouring out our lives and resources will be our joyful response and our heart’s desire. ~ Nigel Morris

I had never heard of Nigel Morris before reading this single entry in a little book called The Heart of Worship Files compiled by Matt Redman. The book says that he was born and reared in England, but currently serves as a staff pastor, responsible for directing worship and the prison ministry in a church in California. What an interesting combination … and most appropriate in light of the definition of worship we find in Romans 12:1-2. I say again, but with different words (and this is mine, but anyone is free to borrow it), true worship is less about what goes on inside the walls of the church on Sunday morning than we tend to realize, and more about what we do as we live out our faith outside the walls of the church.

One more borrowed bit from one of my favorite Charlie Brown strips:

Lucy: Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus: Well, those clouds up there look to me look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean. That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.
Lucy: Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown: Well ... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

The more I'd like for people to think of me as Linus, the more I realize I'm Charlie Brown.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.