So, I went to church today. There is nothing wholly remarkable about this. But I did find today that the sermon, though unremarkable, had a significant impact on me. I can only put this down to God.
At the end of the talk, we were asked to write on a heavily word-art-and-clip-art-ed slip of paper the thing or things that were holding us back in our worship (of the 24/7 variety) of God. I quite surprised myself when I wrote out a whole list of things that, while I had been aware of, I hadn't identified as being problems before. Instead of taking the paper down to the front to oh-so-symbolically lay at the one-quarter-scale cross as suggested, I instead pocketed the slip, not wanting to forget what I had written down.
Then came the test.
The band started the last song.
Now, there are few church songs that I truly dislike, but this was one of them. In addition to this, both guitars, while relatively in tune with themselves, were neither in tune with each other, nor the piano. The drummer was all over the figurative place, and sometimes out the figurative door. Because of this, the pianist, though more than competent, had no idea what the heck was going on.
And to top it all off, the singer, not knowing which pitch strand to follow, opted for a new and unrelated one.
And I'm predisposed to be hypercritical. Especially about music.
I'm not saying this to beat up on the band. Usually the music at church here is very good.
But as I thought about what I'd just written on my slip of paper, nearly every entry in my list was tested in some way during that last song.
But today, somehow, I managed to get over it all, and was closer to God singing "How Great is Our God" than I've been in a while. I was actually worshipping Him.
I'm yet to be unsurprised at the way God does His thang. Even the story of Jesus is about the most surprising story of salvation possible.
God became Man?
If you are at all like me, there are things that get in the way our worship of God. Not just in singing, or even just in church, but throughout our whole life. But sometimes, it just takes a surprising shove from God...
