Some people don’t see a need for “organized religion” and have abandoned attending church. They…
Tag: Worship
First century Christians approached their worship of God in ways that differ from modern churches, including their use of a cappella music.
Something about human nature loves rituals. A ritual is to step from the symbols ofalphabetical characters (which convey words unto ideas) to fabricating symbols out of gestures, designs (in fabric, glass, works of art, etc), set phrases, and any other sensual stimulus to support an idea being communicated. It is called a ceremony for civil activities. In the religious world there are a number of terms describing the same: liturgy, ceremony, and rite.
Ezekiel 8:17 – “And He said to me, ‘Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here?’” In the eighth chapter of Ezekiel God brings Ezekiel “in visions of God to Jerusalem (vs. 3).” When Ezekiel arrives in Jerusalem he is standing in the north gate door of the Temple’s inner court. Through the rest of the chapter God takes Ezekiel on a tour through the Temple to show him “the great abominations that Israel commits… (vs. 6).”
The impulse to discover and worship something greater than ourselves is embedded in the human nature. It’s apparent in this psalm that King David was inclined in this way, and so also is the rest of the human race. Essentially every culture of every age has had at its core some kind of religious tradition whereby they venerate the supernatural powers of the universe. These religious rituals are all very different and the objects of their worship hardly ever the same, yet there is undeniably a common compulsion to seek and serve the supernal.
One of the very first commands God gave man was to give. Cain and Abel were asked to give a sacrifice to God, appropriate to His will. God, explaining to Cain why his offering was not acceptable, states in Genesis 4:7,
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
Giving an offering to God was not just a matter of convenience or the “thing to do,” giving was a serious action with serious consequences. If the giving was unacceptable, God explains, “sin lies at the door.”
Americans love convenience. From microwaves to pizza delivery, from cell phones to high-speed Internet, from drive-through funeral viewings to drive-in churches, Americans make no bones about their love of convenience. And convenience is certainly nice (in its place). After all, who isn’t glad to be free from the time-consuming, back-breaking drudgery of doing things the old-fashioned way? (The good old days weren’t necessarily the good old days. Just ask those who lived during them!) Who doesn’t enjoy having more free time in each day? Who doesn’t like to be able to get information when and where he wants it? Convenience is nice. But some things just aren’t convenient. And to make them so is to make them into something they’re not.