Cosplaying and Worship

In the last post we considered that Jesus has far more to offer us than we realize. A woman at the well found this out in meeting Him. Now we conclude our look though John 4.

As the woman realizes there is a lot more to this man, she begins to wonder why this Jewish man would come to her little town. "You Jews say we should worship in Jerusalem but our ancestors worshiped on this mountain." Now, this is kind of like board gamers asking "Should we go to Gen Con or Essen?" For others it might be like "Should we go to Dragon Con or Wizard World?" Jesus takes this deeper than a location. 

"...believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is coming and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24

This idea of Spirit and Truth is a big one. This means the worship will go beyond sincere to something "corresponding to the nature of its object." (Vincent's Word Studies) The Bible tells us many things about God. He is love. He upholds justice. He hates sin but gives mercy. In order to worship Him, you have to seek after God just like you learn about a character you are cosplaying. 

When you cosplay, you choose a character you love. A character you enjoy reading, watching. Often it is one you find to be a great example of a value that means something to you. Then begins the process of creating or ordering a costume that fits the character. In worship, we see the nature and the values of God and we uplift them. This happens in song, lifestyle, conversation. We tend to only focus on the singing part of worship. But when we vocalize something of the nature of God, whether in private or in a conversation, we are worshiping Him. As a cosplayer you will try to pose and act like the character, but in worship we seek to live a lifestyle that reflects Christ.

So to worship, you need to get to know Him. This is why worship leaders often start with a scripture. As we learn Who God is and reflect on that, worship becomes more meaningful.
 
This weekend (Sept. 19-21, 2014) is GRAND CON! Nerd Chapel is excited to provide a Sunday morning worship experience for those attending the convention at 9am. Come and join us as we discuss "Terraforming the Heart" and as we worship the God we are continuing to learn about.

Spiderman, Drugs, Truth and Love

Today I contemplated something that happened in the comic book industry many years ago in the 1970s.  The government approached Stan Lee about writing a Spiderman comic that educated youth about the dangers of drugs and joined in the battle against such evils.  At that time the Comics Code forbade any mention of drugs.  The Code refused to give its approval for the comic because it mentioned drugs, despite the message that taking them was wrong and dangerous. So what did Stan Lee and Marvel do?  They published Spiderman #96 without the approval of the Code simply by not putting the Code's Seal of Approval on the cover.  This was so effective in the fight against drugs, that it led to a change in the Comics Code.  I honestly believe that they got so focused on their strategies, that they forgot their overall mission, which was to oversee the Comics Industry so that the entertainment found in it was healthy and family friendly.  Isn't a warning about drugs important for health?  Doesn't a comic provide a great chance for parents and kids to talk about these issues?

This makes me wonder about how we do things in the Church.  How often do we get so focused on strategies or truth that we actually fail in expressing the grace and love of Christ?  Do we need to call sin by its real name of sin?  Absolutely!  But we also need to do so in a way which is loving and grace filled.  Yet sometimes we go the opposite direction.  We are scared of pointing sin out but keep trying to express a sentimental love around that doesn't challenge people to grow in Christ.

Jesus was never afraid to call people out about sin.  He told the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more" and he kicked out the merchants who were taking advantage of travelers to the temple with high prices.  Yet despite this he was called a "friend of sinners".  He never backed down from calling sin what it is but had amazing relationships with everyone around Him.  This sometimes can be a little confusing, but Jesus is always there to help us.  He has thousands of years of experience in doing this so learning from Him is certainly a great idea.