Our readings today talk about how our compassionate acts can be a form - active or passive - of worship to God. That's true in some respects of all our work if we focus our attention on Christ as we carry out our tasks. But the work/worship boundary can be crossed even if we are not actively singing praises (as our author did while cleaning her toilets).
For example, yesterday I worshiped for about 11 hours straight. After the death of Kristen's mother on Monday, we stayed an extra day to help get her father settled before heading back to NJ for a while before heading back down for the memorial service later. We had two cars down there since Kristen went early to help with her mother's care. So having 2 cars and 3 drivers and 9 hours of driving time, and being a dad, I dutifully worked out a driving schedule that fairly divided up the drive.
Now Kristen doesn't like to drive in heavy traffic or cross big bridges (which means she usually just backs the cars around in our driveway) so my schedule had her starting the trip in the one vehicle while we were still in relatively "rural" VA. But as we were loading up, I realized she wasn't ready to drive and so I just started out driving. It turned out that I drove the whole way in one car and John took the other - his first time driving such a long distance.
It seems like such a simple act - driving a car - but Colossians 17 tells us to "... do whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God..."
And that's basically what happened. The entire 11 hour trip became one continuous communion with God. To start, the whole time I was praying that the little Miata would stay safe and in sight behind me. But throughout the trip, Kristen and I talked... we processed what was a difficult week for her (and me)... we spoke a lot about our faith and the nature of God. From time to time hymns and praise songs entered my head, and while she slept, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the nature of God's love shown to me through the example of her parents.
It was a wonderful worship service... even if I didn't realize it at the time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please include your FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL when making comments (we may remove comments from people outside our youth group community). If the comments don't work the first time, please keep clicking the post button (sometimes it takes a few tries).