the wise men also gave the gift of frankincense. and frankincense is an aromatic sap from a plant in the middle east that was burned in worship services. frankincense was the essence of divinity, the smell of GOD. it brought worshipers into the holy presence.
so how does your worship smell? how does it taste? what does it feel like? can you touch the presence of GOD when you worship? is there an atmosphere of the SPIRIT all around when you come into HIS house? one of the things people will say when they leave church is, “i could just feel the presence of GOD in the worship.”
rich mullins, the late CHRISTian musician who was tragically killed in a car wreck, was always attentive to the SPIRITual atmosphere of worship. he chose which church to attend not on the basis of the quality of the leadership or the music, but on the devotion of the people.
eric hauck, a close friend of rich mullins, recalled being in a worship service just a few days before rich died. a group of people had come together, and anyone who could play an instrument was invited to play and sing praise to GOD. musically it was chaos - out of tune, fourteen different rhythms - it sounded awful.
finally they asked rich and eric to lead the singing to give the noise some order. mullins took the microphone and said, “i love to be in the church. i love to listen to people sing and play with their hearts. in my profession (contemporary CHRISTian music) we worry about being in tune and sounding good. but this music is the music that's the most pleasing to GOD, because it's so real, and it comes from the hearts of the children of GOD.”
as he spoke, rich got choked up; it was the last time his friend eric saw him cry.
SPIRITual worship is the cry of the heart for fellowship with GOD. it doesn't have to be perfect, any more than we have to be perfect to be in communion with HIM. it just has to be real.
just a thought from the front porch…
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