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.

Kheb and Christ

Today is  flurry of details as I get read for the Church service at Grand Con. I am excited for what God is going to do as we come to worship Him and step closer to Him.

How recently have you read the story of Jesus meeting with the Samaritan woman? He was resting next to a well and she came to find water for her household. The story can be found in John 4. Jesus asks her for some water, as he does not have any way of getting it. In their conversation a couple things stand out to me. Today we look at Jesus provision for us and next time we will look at their discussion of worship.

First of all, Jesus was coming across lines here. Men did not speak to women and Jews did not associate with Samaritans. So this was a huge moment as Jesus met with her and broke down these walls. He also revealed that he knew about her sin, but was still interested in talking with her and spending time with her. Jesus tells her "If you knew who I was, you would ask me, and I would give you living water. You would never be thirsty again; indeed this water would lead to eternal life."

In trying to imagine how she felt, I think about SG-1 visiting a monk in an episode called "Maternal Instincts". Daniel Jackson and the team are looking for the Harsesis, a son of Sharee/Amunet and Apophis that has all the knowledge of the Goa'uld. They come to Kheb, a place where people are welcome to come and learn to ascend to a different plane of existence.  

Found on the Stargate Wiki

Daniel Jackson has quite an experience talking with a monk and eventually meets an ascended being he eventually comes to know as Oma Desala. As Daniel tries to learn their ways, he gets frustrated (although not as much as O'Neill does). The guy keeps using confusing sayings to express his ideas. Daniel soon realizes that they are so much more than he ever thought and that there is so much out there he does not know about. As he sees this, a Goa'uld army gets closer and closer, but when they arrive the ascended being destroys all of them, and even gliders, with lightning. Daniel finally realizes what they were saying: The Harsesis child is better off with us. But more than that SG-1 was opened to a whole new perception of the universe.

Jesus is saying that he has far more to offer than we can hope or imagine. More hope, joy, lessons, protection, mind blowing ideas and experiences than we will ever understand. Sometimes we get frustrated by Jesus. Looking at some of His sayings in John (i.e. "I am the Bread of Life" or "watch out for the yeast of the pharisees) we feel a little bit lost. His disciples sure did! But Jesus has so much love, mercy, and even deep truth just waiting for us! He just wants to walk with us through all this and show you what He has for you.