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Pastor · Sunday Schedule · FBC
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2000
AT WORSHIP
Always, for me, in worship I have felt the most human,
the most centered, the most forgiving and forgiven, the most hopeful and
the most blessed.
I know this must seem strange to people who find worship
alien or boring.
I wish I could impart to all what I experience it might
not happen every Sunday but it happens enough to know it is not an
aberration or caused by some particular well sung anthem or the message of
the preacher when on those rare times I get to sit in the pew.
It happens all the time. I am moved. I am touched. I
sense the true giftedness of life. I see future images of reconciliation
and forgiveness. I feel a love that is quiet and gentle.
It is beyond myself but in myself. It is for me the
presence of the Lord. There is no blast of trumpets. There is no visible
sign of "tongues of fire," but the breath of God does blow in
our direction.
It is just a matter of being there and in a sense
"standing in the presence of the Lord."
Sometimes I get choked up. Sometimes I just feel
thankful.
A part of me is glad it cannot be easily explained. It
speaks of mystery. It speaks of the Divine.
On the other hand, I wish I could clearly explain it to
everyone so they might more clearly enter in or at least perhaps try
worship more often.
I often wondered why people stay away as they do. I
think to myself if they only knew what worship can do or more precisely
what worship is or how it works upon the human psyche and soul.
It restores. It renews. It heals. It is in a sense, the
bedroom chamber of the Lover God and God's beloved. Yet, at the same time,
for me, it is not necessarily ecstatic. I don't come away from worship
feeling high or on top of the world. I come away from worship feeling
released, feeling at peace, feeling quiet within. Ready.
I don't know why worship needs to be done together, with
other people, but I know it does. It is where two or three or a thousand
gather together.
I know, also, I can't convince anyone to worship, or say
to them, it is a must, it is a necessity. Obviously millions of people
live without it, and live lives that are fruitful and loving. Yet, I can't
imagine life without it.
Something happens when I enter the house of the Lord. It
is, very simply, I meet the Presence of the Lord.
Dr. David W. Andersen
        
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