I wonder at the oddity that the modern church has lost the concept of truly worshipping God. Oh, I know we have services on Sundays and mid-week but we have lost a vital concept of pursuing God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. We seem to have reduced God to such a commodity level that our idea of worship is closer to the way we watch a program on television than it is to anything Scriptural - tune in for an hour at the scheduled time and then tune out and get on with whatever else we have to do.
The psalmist described his pursuit of God in such graphic terms that not even time and geography obscure his intent:
“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul pants after you, God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42.1-2 WEB)
We aren’t even comfortable talking about God in those type of terms. Our faith is far too intellectual and rational to be comfortable in the realm of the poet - that is, the realm of the heart.
Yahweh promised his people that “You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29.13) Note God’s instruction that to find him requires a diligent, whole-hearted search. Searching for an hour or two each week simply will not produce success.
Many of our church traditions do not follow or celebrate saints’ days for various reasons; however, tomorrow, May 11, many will remember Comgall, the sixth century monastic. Comgall founded Bangor Monastery, home of the famous perpetual choir. This choir sang continuous praises to God for 150 years utilizing a shift system!
We don’t have to agree with the asceticism that marked many of these middle ages monasteries to appreciate the light they provided in an increasingly dark world. God always has a remnant that still pursue him (consider Elijah’s complaint to Yahweh in 1 Kings 19). What we can appreciate from this story is the concept that God deserves our praise and our worship every moment of every day.
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