Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Worship at Woolies

I was havin a chat to my lovely wife and this really cool chick who I'll call Ali, cause that's her name, about worship the other day but before I get to that let me go somewhere else for a second. In one of my first blogs, Religion,I wrote about how much 'religion' has affected the true views of what being a true follower of Jesus is all about. Unfortunately what has happened over time in my opinion, is that we have become followers of a Christian religion rather than just being followers of Jesus and allowing him to lead us to the kingdom of God. So . . . in large my desire for this blog site is to break down boxes of religion so that followers of Jesus may have some thoughts and discussion that can assist them to help others really know what it means to live a life of following Christ rather than religion.
So . . . getting back to worship . . . firstly can I say that the input here is really good and it has made me think as I'm sure it has others. The question I posed was whether Jesus sang, well to tell you the truth I had no idea whether Jesus sang or not and thankfully Susan pointed out that yeh He probably did. The point I was making though is this (as a question again) what do we remember Jesus for as far as His worship of God? Well certainly not his singing, when I think of Jesus and His worship of His father it wasn't his ability to sing a Guy Sabastian ballad warbling 100 million times and hitting a falsetto note that cracks glass in the name of God. Although again as Susan pointed out, he probably sang songs of worship. It wasn't His articulate words when he prayed, although we know he prayed and honored God to His fullest while doing so. It wasn't the way he read scripture and again we know that when he read he had authority like no other and was devoting everything to His father in heaven. So how do we see Jesus worship? Well I can't explain it any other way than to say that His life was worship to God. He said here John 5:19 So Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. So Jesus was lead by God in all He did, never was he separated from God. Does this mean he did some things without God? No, never as He was God in the flesh. So what does this mean for us? Are we ever separated from God? Nup, his word in Romans says nothing can ever separate us from Him and His love. He's also given us his Spirit to help and guide us. So is it possible for us to worship God with our lives like Jesus did? That's what I'm aiming for. Unfortunately along the way in this path this thing called sin sometimes heads me in my direction and not God's, that's the big difference between Jesus and us huh? He was sinless. So getting back to my conversation with Teresea and Ali, I said yeh . . we can even worship at woolies. (for all those people who may not be in Australia or who have Safeway and not Woolies then it's a supermarket where you buy groceries like fruit and milk vegemite and bok choy, stuff like that) What does that look like? Well it means getting your finest musicians, a stage, a few singers on mics and leading choruses and hymns for all those happy shoppers. Sorry, I lapsed into major sarcasm. Nah, I think just being available for God to use us in Woolies. Being available and ready in whatever way that God leads us, continually lifting our eyes, hearts, hip pockets, gifts and abilities, whatever we have and using them to bring God glory to the people that God places in front of us. I think that's how I see Jesus worshipping. Now . . . . if all followers of Jesus were living lives like this everyday, what sort of a difference would that make to our world? What would it look like when we came together? Would it really matter?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Worship plus Mission. I'm still getting my head around the fact that these two can mesh and not be seperate. (Big discussions with hubby). My temprement doesn't help as I like to box things. I'll keep working on it, as I too look to Jesus life and try to be a 'Christ follower'. I'll let you know if I have any inspirations.

Anonymous said...

Worship can also be attending to damsel's in distress- from helping your daughters cope with crises, to helping dumb chicks drive off beaches. I hear you've done that very well recently Glenno...
Well in son!

Anonymous said...

Nice Glenno.
I think the important point is to continually lift our eyes. Wherever we are and whatever we are doing we need to be seeking God and loving others. We need to be searching to find how God wants to use us in each and every situation we are in.
Definately at Woolies, also at church and Basketball Church (and Bi-Lo). Too often we go to church with a 'me' focus and don't live for God there. How sad... If we are 'doing' something (running church, program, whatever) we don't need to love others. What the?!
We all need to lift our eyes and make sure we are living for God all the time, and taking every opportunity he gives us to make a difference for Him and His kingdom- be that in Woolies or services (curch).

Anonymous said...

worship at woolies.......
well, that ali person must be cool.....

i think worship is... about reverance of God, and being in awe of Him
..and being obediant to him in every aspect of your life.......
.. and it is about intimacy with God.....
... and an act of worship, and the way it looks is different for every person...... and different situations......

Anonymous said...

Nice challenging comments Glenno! Yeah, I definately think Woolies is a place you can worship. In fact, as I work in the service deli at Seaford with another christian we are starting to see nearly all the girls open up and ask questions about God. My manager the other day chatted with me about God and it is awesome to see how just living a life of worship and adoration to God can be the very thing He uses to open doors to plant seeds for His Kingdom. Praise God for worship! How much emphasis do we put worship on music...yet,not gossiping, holding your tongue (when you want scream!) and letting everything you say and do come out of that love/worship relationship. Now, thats what I call worship!